A Madman's Will: John Randolph, Four Hundred Slaves, and the Mirage of Freedom [Paperback]

The untold saga of John Randolphs 383 slaves, freed in his much-contested will of 1821, finally comes to light. Eye-opening and vigorously researched . . . May cogently reveals how white supremacy was not restricted to the South but permeated the nation, depicting a culture of fear and resentment around free Black settlement . . . Ultimately,?May shows how such deprivations have lasting, generational consequences, illuminating inequities that persist to this day. In 1833, the Virginia congressman John Randolph freed his nearly four hundred slaves while on his deathbed. This detailed history untangles the much publicized legal dispute that ensued . . . May cautions against ascribing honorable motives to Randolph, and stresses that those he freed continued to face prejudice and violence in the North. Lawyer-turned-historian May ( Compelling, meticulously documented and beautifully written . . . Mays account shows that 'freedom' of any kind was virtually impossible for Black people in the United States in the early 1800s, no matter how carefully planned. This important book should be of interest to a wide range of readers interested in American history. May does a good job of pointing out the contradictions of the law in both free and slave states. He also paints a vivid portrait of Randolph himself, a man who, while privately opposed to slavery, was not shy about building his fortune on the backs of enslaved people and whose liberation was less than pure . . . A twisty story that illuminates the elaborate legal system built to defend slavery and silence its discontents. [A]n invaluable narrative that sheds light on present-day struggles for racial justice and debates about reparations. US