Passenger on the Pearl : the true story of Emily Edmonson's flight from slavery

Title:

Author:

Conkling, Winifred author.

ISBN:

9781616201968

Author:

Conkling, Winifred author.

Edition:

First edition.

Publication Date:

2015

Physical Description:

170 pages : illustrations, maps, genealogical table ; 24 cm

Summary:

In 1848, thirteen-year-old Emily Edmonson, five of her siblings, and seventy other enslaved people boarded the Pearl under cover of night in Washington, D.C., hoping to sail north to freedom. Within a day, the schooner was captured, and the Edmonsons were sent to New Orleans to be sold into even crueler conditions. Passenger on the Pearl is the story of this thwarted escape, of the ramifications of its attempt, and of a family for whom freedom was the ultimate goal. Conkling takes readers on Emily Edmonson's journey from enslaved person to teacher at a school for African American young women. Her path crosses those of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe, inspiring the character of Emmeline in Uncle Tom's Cabin. She also illuminates a turbulent time in American history, showing the daily lives of enslaved people, the often-changing laws affecting them, the high cost of a failed escape, and the stories of slave traders and abolitionists.

Personal Subject:

Edmonson, Emily, 1835-1895-Juvenile literature.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896. Uncle Tom's cabin-Juvenile literature.

Edmondson family-Juvenile literature.

Corporate Subject:

Pearl (Schooner) -- Juvenile literature.

Subject Term:

Fugitive slaves -- Biography -- Juvenile literature.

Antislavery movements -- United States -- History -- 19th century -- Juvenile literature.

Underground Railroad -- Juvenile literature.

Genre:

Biographies.

Available:*

Library	Shelf Number	Material Type	Status
Searching... Belle Glade Branch	J BIO EDMONSON	Book	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Wellington Branch	J BIO EDMONSON	Book	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

The page-turning, heart-wrenching true story of one young woman willing to risk her safety and even her life for a chance at freedom in the largest slave escape attempt in American history.

In 1848, thirteen-year-old Emily Edmonson, five of her siblings, and seventy other enslaved people boarded the Pearl under cover of night in Washington, D.C., hoping to sail north to freedom. Within a day, the schooner was captured, and the Edmonsons were sent to New Orleans to be sold into even crueler conditions. Passenger on the Pearl is the story of this thwarted escape, of the ramifications of its attempt, and of a family for whom freedom was the ultimate goal.

Through an engaging narrative, informative sidebars, and more than fifty period photographs and illustrations, Winifred Conkling takes readers on Emily Edmonson's journey from enslaved person to teacher at a school for African American young women. Conkling illuminates a turbulent time in American history, showing the daily lives of enslaved people, the often-changing laws affecting them, the high cost of a failed escape, and the stories of slave traders and abolitionists.

Author Notes

Winifred Conkling is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction for young readers, including Passenger on the Pearl , Radioactive! , Votes for Women! , and the middle-grade novel Sylvia & Aki . You can find her online at winifredconkling.com.

Reviews (4)

Horn Book Review

Amelia (Milly) Culver Edmonson, born a slave in 1782, wanted her progeny to enjoy what was denied her: freedom. Following her dream, six of her fourteen children boarded the schooner Pearl in Washington, DC, in April of 1848, joining seventy-six other slaves attempting to sail to freedom in the largest planned escape in the United States. This failed effort sets off a complex chain of events that provides a full picture of those working together to procure freedom, and the equally strong efforts of some government officials and slave traders to thwart their efforts. Central to this account are Milly's daughters Emily and Mary Edmonson, thirteen and fifteen respectively, who, with the financial help of New York sympathizers, have their freedom purchased six months after the aborted escape attempt. Conkling extrapolates from their story the circumstances of and negotiations for other captured slaves, including the horrific conditions in slave pens, the thriving illicit sex trade in New Orleans, and the splintered views of abolitionist groups. Copious sidebars and period illustrations and photographs, along with primary-source quotes (including those from Harriet Beecher Stowe's recounting of Milly Edmonson's story), provide further context. This ultimately triumphant account ends with a tally of Milly's dream: thirteen of her children were freed (the fate of the fourteenth is unknown). Appended with a timeline, an Edmonson family tree, source notes, bibliography, and an index (unseen). betty carter (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

This narrative nonfiction tells the story of the Edmonson family, who served as Harriet Beecher Stowe's inspiration for Uncle Tom's Cabin. In 1848, six of the Edmonson children, along with almost 70 other slaves, attempted a daring and failed escape north from Washington, D.C., onboard the Pearl. Though their attempt was unsuccessful, the Edmonsons contributed to the cause of abolition in ways they could not imagine. The story of Emily and Mary Edmonson, who are eventually captured, sold, emancipated, and educated as teachers, deals with a host of peripheral issues of the day, including infectious disease, family life, presidential politics, and the education of women. Numerous photographs of typical slave dress, slave pens, and advertisements for slave traders further the gritty reality of the text. By examining the intersecting experiences of enslaved people, abolitionists, free people of color, slave owners, and slave traders, this book provides an effective antidote to the oversimplified picture of slavery in America painted by some outdated textbooks.--Anderson, Erin Copyright 2015 Booklist

School Library Journal Review

Gr 7-10-This title is an in-depth historical narrative concerning several people involved in an attempted slave escape in 1848. The Pearl was to ferry 13-year-old Emily Edmonson and scores of other runaway slaves from Washington DC down the Potomac River and up the Chesapeake Bay. However, the ship was captured before reaching free soil. Conkling narrates the tumultuous stories of Edmonson, her family, and the others involved, tracing their lives from their ill-fated jail escape to the slave auctions, the Deep South, and finally to freedom. Readers will discover how Edmonson came into contact with important figures in the antislavery movement, including Frederick Douglass, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Primary documents give an authentic voice to the text, including excerpts from Frederick Douglass's autobiography. Nineteenth-century plates, illustrations, photographic portraits, and posters enhance the text. Historical photographs of slaves and slave pens are particularly moving. Maps clearly outline the geography relevant to the narratives, and frequent text blocks separate contextual information from the primary narrative. This work covers information about slavery that is often not found in other volumes, such as the Second Middle Passage-the transportation of slaves from the Upper South to the Lower South-and the uncomfortable reality of slaves as "second wives" to white men. Conkling's work is intricate and detailed, and some readers may be overwhelmed by the vast number of names encountered here. Nevertheless, this is a strong and well-sourced resource.-Jeffrey Meyer, Mount Pleasant Public Library, IA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Review

In her first work of nonfiction for young readers (Sylvia Aki, 2011), Conkling presents the true story of Emily Edmonson and her five siblings who escaped from slavery only to be caught and sent further south. Amelia Culver never wanted to marry, knowing marriage meant inevitable heartbreak when children were born into slavery and sold in the slave markets. But she married Paul Edmonson anyway, and sure enough, her children, upon reaching age 12 or 13, were taken and hired out in Washington, D.C. Her 13-year-old daughter Emily and Emily's siblings shared their mother's dream of freedom, and in 1848, they took part in what became the largest slave escape attempt in American history. Down the Potomac River they fled on the Pearl, and by the time they neared the Chesapeake Bay, they were captured and sold South, where Emily and her sister Mary were in danger of being sold into the sex trade. Eventually, they were returned to Virginia and ransomed with help from the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, whose sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, modeled characters in Uncle Tom's Cabin on Emily and Mary Edmonson. Clearly written, well-documented, and chock full of maps, sidebars, and reproductions of photographs and engravings, the fascinating volume covers a lot of history in a short space. Conkling uses the tools of a novelist to immerse readers in Emily's experiences. A fine and harrowing true story behind an American classic. (timeline, family tree, source notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 12-16) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Excerpts

ONE A Mother's Sorrow WHEN AMELIA CULVER met Paul Edmonson, she had no intention of ever marrying. Milly, as she was known, enjoyed spending time with Paul at church on Sundays, and the more she learned about him the more she cared for him, but she did not want to be his wife. She realized that she had fallen in love, but she was not concerned about love. Milly knew the truth: She was enslaved, and in Montgomery County, Maryland, in the early 19th century, her future did not belong to her. At the time, Paul was enslaved on a nearby farm. They would not be able to live together as man and wife because they had different owners; but if they married, Milly and Paul would be able to see each other from time to time. Any children they might have would be born into bondage, owned by Milly's master. Milly understood that the joy of marriage and family would end in heartbreak when her children--her babies--grew old enough to be torn away from her to work or to be sold in the slave market. Despite what seemed like inevitable sadness, Paul asked Milly to marry him. She turned him down. Milly longed for love and family, but still more, she longed for liberty. "I loved Paul very much," Milly said. "But I thought it wasn't right to bring children into the world to be slaves." Milly's family and others at Asbury Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., urged her to reconsider Paul's offer, arguing that Paul was a good man and it was her Christian duty to marry and have children. Paul proposed again, and this time she accepted. "This Child Isn't Ours" As Milly had predicted, the painful realities of love within slavery soon followed. "Well, Paul and me, we was married, and we was happy enough," Milly said. "But when our first child was born I says to him, 'There 'tis now, Paul, our troubles is begun. This child isn't ours. "'Oh, Paul,' says I, 'what a thing it is to have children that isn't ours!' "Paul, he says to me, 'Milly, my dear, if they be God's children, it ain't so much matter whether they be ours or no; they may be heirs of the kingdom.'" Milly tried to find peace in his words, but she still worried. In the early years of her marriage, Milly and her young children lived with her mistress, Rebecca Culver, and Culver's married sister in Colesville, Maryland. It was not uncommon for an enslaved person to be freed when his owner died, and in 1821, Paul's owner freed him in her will. While many owners did not recognize slave marriages, Culver allowed Milly to work as a seamstress and live with Paul and their children on a local farm. Milly and Paul continued to have children, increasing Culver's wealth significantly. "I had mostly sewing," Milly said. "Sometimes a shirt to make in a day--it was coarse like, you know--or a pair of sheets or some such, but whatever 'twas, I always got it done. Then I had all my housework and babies to take care of and many's the time after ten o'clock I've took my children's clothes and washed 'em all out and ironed 'em late in the night 'cause I couldn't never bear to see my children dirty. Always wanted to see 'em sweet and clean. I brought 'em up and taught 'em the very best ways I was able." Culver was mentally challenged and she was never able to manage her finances on her own. In 1827, Culver's brother petitioned the court in Montgomery County to have her ruled legally incompetent. The judge agreed and named her brother-in-law, Francis Valdenar, as guardian of her business affairs, which included oversight of Milly and her children. By the mid-1830s, Milly had given birth to fourteen children, eight girls and six boys. She lived in constant fear that they would be taken from her. "I never seen a white man come onto the place that I didn't think, There, now, he's coming to look at my children," Milly said. "And when I saw any white man going by, I've called in my children and hid 'em for fear he'd see 'em and want to buy 'em." In time, Milly's fears were realized. As was common practice at the time, when any of her children reached age 12 or 13, he or she was taken from home and hired out to families in the Washington, D.C., area to live and work as domestic slaves. Their wages were sent back to Culver, who depended on this income. Heartbroken, Milly begged her girls not to marry until they were free so that they would not become mothers of children born into slavery. She said, "Now, girls, don't you never come to the sorrows that I have. Don't you never marry till you get your liberty. Don't you marry to be mothers to children that ain't your own." Each of the Edmonson children, both the boys and the girls, shared their mother's belief that aside from their duty to God, nothing was more important than freedom. An Uncertain Future Over the years, Valdenar had allowed the five oldest Edmonson sisters--Elizabeth, Martha, Eveline, Henrietta, and Eliza--to buy their freedom. They raised the money by taking on extra work and keeping a portion of their earnings, or by accepting money from family and friends. By 1848, Culver was in poor health, and she faced growing debts. Six of the Edmonson children were hired out at the time. There were no plans for their imminent sale, but the siblings realized that their futures were far from secure. Slave owners prized the Edmonson children for their honesty, intelligence, and morality; slave dealers prized them because they could demand a high price on the auction block. Would Valdenar sell one or more of them to pay Culver's expenses? If they were sold, they could end up in fine homes working as domestics and butlers or they could end up in the Lower South, working as field hands or, worse yet, as "fancy girls" in the New Orleans sex trade. The two hired-out Edmonson sisters, Mary and Emily, had pale complexions and fine features, which meant that they could fetch a high price in the southern market. They were only 15 and 13 years old, respectively--a bit young to be sold into this line of work even by the standards of the time, but their true age did not matter. In such circumstances, slave traders were known to falsify documents and add All of the enslaved Edmonson children had discussed with their parents the possibility of running away. They faced difficult choices: If they stayed, they risked being sold south at their owner's convenience. If they ran away and were caught, they faced the likelihood that they would be sold to harsher owners in the South. While she had not experienced such hardships herself, Emily had seen coffles of slaves shuffling down the streets of the city, men and women walking with shackles around their ankles and handcuffs on their wrists, paired together and linked by long metal chains. These human herds were driven like cattle or swine down Pennsylvania Avenue and the streets of Washington, D.C., chained together so that they could not flee while being moved from one place to another. Most coffles were bound for the Deep South to labor as field slaves on cotton and sugar plantations. Field slaves performed backbreaking work from sunrise to sunset, often under the watchful eye of an overseer with a bullwhip; house slaves spent their days cooking and cleaning and watching children. The only option Emily and her enslaved brothers and sisters saw to ensure their freedom and safety was to flee--and to pray that they could avoid getting caught. When the Edmonson family learned of a bold escape planned for a spring night in April, they decided to take the chance. A lifetime of freedom was worth the risk of capture, they reasoned. Excerpted from Passenger on the Pearl: The True Story of Emily Edmonson's Flight from Slavery by Winifred Conkling All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.