A must read for anyone with an interest in the far Southwest or Native American history.

Although millions of African American women were held in bondage over the 250 years that slavery was legal in the United States, Harriet Jacobs (1813-97) is the only one known to have left papers testifying to her life. Her autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, holds a central place in the canon of American literature as the most important slave narrative by an African American woman. Born in Edenton, North Carolina, Jacobs escaped from her owner in her mid-twenties and hid in the cramped attic crawlspace of her grandmother's house for seven years before making her way north as a fugitive slave. In Rochester, New York, she became an active abolitionist, working with all of the major abolitionists, feminists, and literary figures of her day, including Frederick Douglass, Lydia Maria Child, Amy Post, William Lloyd Garrison, Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Fanny Fern, William C. Nell, Charlotte Forten Grimke, and Nathan Parker Willis. Jean Fagan Yellin has devoted much of her professional life to illuminating the remarkable life of Harriet Jacobs. Over three decades of painstaking research, Yellin has discovered more than 900 primary source documents, approximately 300 of which are now collected in two volumes. These letters and papers written by, for, and about Jacobs and her activist brother and daughter provide for the thousands of readers of Incidents--from scholars to schoolchildren--access to the rich historical context of Jacobs's struggles against slavery, racism, and sexism beyond what she reveals in her pseudonymous narrative. Accompanied by a CD containing a searchable PDF file of the entire contents, this collection is a crucial launching point for future scholarship on Jacobs's life and times.

The story of the Parker family beginning with the days when Texas was part of Mexico as early as 1830 and tracing their incredible history through a century and three-quarters to today, based on a wealth of previously unpublished early Parker documents. The author introduces hunter-searcher James Parker; statesman Isaac Parker and his friend Sam Houston; Sul Ross, youthful soldier, Governor of Texas, and later, President of Texas A&M University; and Cynthia Ann Parker and her famous son, Quanah.

Introduction: borderless societies -- The borderland -- Political conflicts -- Rebels and runaways -- The centrality of smuggling -- The web of debt -- Borderless businessmen -- Conclusion: the shape of empire.

Short of the Book TitleThe selected title of this book, The Quanders – Since 1684: An Enduring African American Legacy, is self-explanatory and becomes more so once the reader delves into the content. Tracing the legacy of Henry Quando and Margrett Pugg, his wife, and their progeny, from 1684 to the present, unfolds a story of triumph and sustained accomplishment beyond and in spite of whatever racially-inspired obstacles were placed as inhibitors on the road to success. Description of the WorkThe Quanders – Since 1684: An Enduring African America Legacy introduces stories that constitute the Quander family legacy as one of the oldest consistently documented African American families in the United States. This is not so much an African American story, as it is an American history story, written from an African American perspective. It features examples of faith, strength, focus, character, and triumph emerging from and beyond a series of imposed stumbling blocks. As well, the author acknowledges the contributions of those who came before and builds upon their achievements and successes to the benefit of future generations.While most Americans respect our nation and its Founding Fathers who made it a reality, the Quander story expands the scope of that recognition by painting smaller parallel stories addressing what else was ongoing, i.e., incidences, events, setbacks, the cumulative effect of which helped us, as people of African descent, to hold our heads just as high as other communities. Indeed, we too shared in the building of this great nation and in seeking to fulfill the American Dream.

For the first time--the complete story of the life and times of the most important black woman writer of the 19th century.