Sweet Taste of Liberty, W. Caleb McDaniel
Sweet Taste of Liberty, W. Caleb McDaniel
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Sweet Taste of Liberty
A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America

Author: W. Caleb McDaniel

Narrator: Paul Heitsch

Unabridged: 9 hr 51 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 01/14/2020


Synopsis

The unforgettable saga of one enslaved woman's fight for justice—and reparations

Born into slavery, Henrietta Wood was taken to Cincinnati and legally freed in 1848. In 1853, a Kentucky deputy sheriff named Zebulon Ward colluded with Wood's employer, abducted her, and sold her back into bondage. She remained enslaved throughout the Civil War, giving birth to a son in Mississippi and never forgetting who had put her in this position. By 1869, Wood had obtained her freedom for a second time and returned to Cincinnati, where she sued Ward for damages in 1870. Astonishingly, after eight years of litigation, Wood won her case: in 1878, a Federal jury awarded her $2,500. More important than the amount, though the largest ever awarded by an American court in restitution for slavery, was the fact that any money was awarded at all.

McDaniel's book is an epic tale of a black woman who survived slavery twice and who achieved more than merely a moral victory over one of her oppressors. Above all, Sweet Taste of Liberty is a portrait of an extraordinary individual as well as a searing reminder of the lessons of her story, which establish beyond question the connections between slavery and the prison system that rose in its place.

About W. Caleb McDaniel

W. Caleb McDaniel is a historian of the nineteenth-century United States and the author of the prize-winning book, The Problem of Democracy in the Age of Slavery. A native Texan, he received his PhD in 2006 from the Johns Hopkins University and now teaches at Rice University in Houston.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Clif on July 07, 2021

This book provides a nonfiction account of the remarkable life of Henrietta Wood born into slavery in about 1820, sold into the Deep South at age fourteen, eventually moved to Cincinnati by her owner where she became legally free for about seven years, then at age thirty-five she was kidnapped and s......more

Goodreads review by Rachel on November 15, 2019

I really learned a lot about US history around slavery and Reconstruction in reading Sweet Taste of Liberty, the story of Henrietta Wood who was born a slave, freed to live in Ohio, and then captured and sold into slavery on the cotton plantations in Kentucky. She remained enslaved until the end of......more

Goodreads review by Michael on September 25, 2019

Henrietta Wood was a twice enslaved and twice freed slave who in the Reconstruction Era sued Zebulon Ward her enslaver for reparations in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1878, an all white jury returned a verdict in Wood’s favor and assessed reparations in the amount of $2,500 (far less than the $20,000 the su......more

Goodreads review by Jaclyn on June 21, 2020

This was so excellent for so many reasons, not the least of which is the essay on sources at the end. I was very fortunate to take two classes (one independent research seminar) with McDaniel while I was at Rice, and his voice and pedagogical intention come across beautifully in that essay. I love t......more

Goodreads review by Porter on August 14, 2020

This was from what I've seen others saying a decent book, but the audio version stunk. The narration was choppy and pause filled, which adversely affected my enjoyment of this book.......more