

The Strange Career of William Ellis
The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire
Author: Karl Jacoby
Narrator: JD Jackson
Unabridged: 9 hr 29 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Tantor Media
Published: 06/15/2016
Categories: Nonfiction, History, Social Science
Synopsis
After emancipation, Ellis, capitalizing on the Spanish he learned during his childhood along the Mexican border and his ambivalent appearance, engaged in a virtuoso act of reinvention. He crafted an alter ego, the Mexican Guillermo Eliseo, who was able to access many of the privileges denied to African Americans at the time.
The Strange Career of William Ellis offers fresh insights on the history of the Reconstruction era, the U.S.-Mexico border, and the abiding riddle of race. At a time when the United States is deepening its connections with Latin America and recognizing that race is more than simply black or white, Ellis's story could not be more timely or important.