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The Devil's Half Acre
- The Untold Story of How One Woman Liberated the South's Most Notorious Slave Jail
- Narrated by: Deanna Anthony
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
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Publisher's summary
The inspiring true story of an enslaved woman who liberated an infamous slave jail and transformed it into one of the nation’s first HBCUs.
In The Devil’s Half Acre, New York Times best-selling author Kristen Green draws on years of research to tell the extraordinary and little-known story of young Mary Lumpkin, an enslaved woman who blazed a path of liberation for thousands. She was forced to have the children of a brutal slave trader and live on the premises of his slave jail, known as the “Devil’s Half Acre”. When she inherited the jail after the death of her slaveholder, she transformed it into “God’s Half Acre”, a school where Black men could fulfill their dreams. It still exists today as Virginia Union University, one of America’s first Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
A sweeping narrative of a life in the margins of the American slave trade, The Devil’s Half Acre brings Mary Lumpkin into the light. This is the story of the resilience of a woman on the path to freedom, her historic contributions, and her enduring legacy.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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Critic reviews
"Rescued from the horror of slavery and the neglect of history, Mary Lumpkin’s life story in The Devil’s Half Acre is one of tenacity, endurance, courage, and achievement." (Margot Lee Shetterly, number one New York Times best-selling author of Hidden Figures)
“A remarkable achievement. With precision and care, Green has reconstructed Mary Lumpkin’s life - and so many others - from a historical record that has sought to erase the contributions of Black women at every turn.” (Beth Macy, New York Times best-selling author of Dopesick)
“The Devil's Half Acre tells an essential piece of history that deserves to be read by everyone.” (Nicole Ari Parker, actor, producer, and parent)
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Jesse J. Holland's The Invisibles is the first book to tell the story of the executive mansion's most unexpected residents: the African American slaves who lived with the US presidents who owned them. Interest in African Americans and the White House are at an all-time high due to the historic presidency of Barack Obama and the soon-to-be-opened Smithsonian National Museum of African American Culture and History.
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Riveting Book
- By Jean on 02-13-16
By: Jesse Holland
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The Bone and Sinew of the Land
- By: Anna-Lisa Cox
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Starting in our nation's earliest years, thousands of free African Americans were building hundreds of settlements in the Northwest Territory, a territory that banned slavery and gave equal voting rights to all men. This groundbreaking work of research reveals the lost history of the nation's first Great Migration. Though forgotten today, these pioneers were a matter of national importance at the time; their mere existence leading to fierce political movements and battles that tore families and communities apart long before the Civil War erupted.
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A must read for all!
- By Linda on 05-14-19
By: Anna-Lisa Cox
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A Different Mirror
- A History of Multicultural America
- By: Ronald Takaki
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 18 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Upon its first publication, A Different Mirror was hailed by critics and academics everywhere as a dramatic new retelling of our nation's past. Beginning with the colonization of the New World, it recounts the history of America in the voice of the non-Anglo peoples of the United States---Native Americans, African Americans, Jews, Irish Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and others---groups who helped create this country's rich mosaic culture.
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All mirrors distort
- By Michael on 04-02-17
By: Ronald Takaki
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Gateway to Freedom
- The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad
- By: Eric Foner
- Narrated by: J. D. Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The dramatic story of fugitive slaves and the antislavery activists who defied the law to help them reach freedom. They are little known to history: Sydney Howard Gay, an abolitionist newspaper editor; Louis Napoleon, a furniture polisher; Charles B. Ray, a black minister. At great risk they operated the Underground Railroad in New York, a city whose businesses, banks, and politics were deeply enmeshed in the slave economy.
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Hard to stay awake....
- By Chrissie on 02-18-15
By: Eric Foner
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Frontier Grit
- The Unlikely True Stories of Daring Pioneer Women
- By: Marianne Monson
- Narrated by: Caroline Shaffer
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Discover the stories of 12 women who heard the call to settle the West and who came from all points of the globe to begin their journeys. As a slave Clara watched helplessly as her husband and children were sold, only to be reunited with her youngest daughter as a free woman six decades later. As a young girl, Charlotte hid her gender to escape a life of poverty and became the greatest stagecoach driver who ever lived. As a Native American, Gertrude fought to give her people a voice and to educate leaders about the ways and importance of America's native people.
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only ok
- By Jane Orr on 06-14-21
By: Marianne Monson
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Strangers from a Different Shore
- A History of Asian Americans
- By: Ronald Takaki
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 24 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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In an extraordinary blend of narrative history, personal recollection, and oral testimony, the author presents a sweeping history of Asian Americans. This is a powerful and moving work that will resonate for all Americans, who together make up a nation of immigrants from other shores.
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Eye opening to the way immigrants are treated
- By Amazon Customer on 10-06-20
By: Ronald Takaki
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Women of the Blue & Gray
- By: Marianne Monson
- Narrated by: Caroline Shaffer
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Hidden among the photographs, uniforms, revolvers, and war medals of the Civil War are the remarkable stories of some of the most unlikely heroes: women. This audiobook brings to light the incredible stories of women from the Civil War that remain relevant to our nation today. Each woman's experience helps us see a truer, fuller, richer version of what really happened in this country during this time period.
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Style kills the stories
- By KHdeB on 01-12-21
By: Marianne Monson
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They Were Her Property
- White Women as Slave Owners in the American South
- By: Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Bridging women's history, the history of the South, and African-American history, this audiobook makes a bold argument about the role of white women in American slavery. Historian Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers draws on a variety of sources to show that slave-owning women were sophisticated economic actors who directly engaged in and benefited from the South's slave market.
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Women ARE just like men
- By Mary on 08-22-19
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An Imperfect God
- George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America
- By: Henry Wiencek
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Abridged
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Washington was born and raised among Blacks and mixed-race people; he and his wife had blood ties to the slave community. Yet as a young man he bought and sold slaves without scruple, even raffled off children to collect debts (an incident ignored by earlier biographers). Then, on the Revolutionary battlefields where he commanded both Black and White troops, Washington's attitudes began to change.
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Excellent handling of one part of Wahington's life
- By buffaloboy on 05-20-04
By: Henry Wiencek
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Help Me to Find My People
- The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery
- By: Heather Andrea Williams
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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After the Civil War, African Americans placed poignant “information wanted” advertisements in newspapers, searching for missing family members. Inspired by the power of these ads, Heather Andrea Williams uses slave narratives, letters, interviews, public records, and diaries to guide listeners back to devastating moments of family separation during slavery when people were sold away from parents, siblings, spouses, and children. Williams explores the usually unsuccessful journeys toward reunification.
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Vulnerability and Grief
- By Kathy in CA on 07-29-16
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Black Titan
- A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire
- By: Carol Jenkins
- Narrated by: Susan Spain
- Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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A.G. Gaston, the poor grandson of slaves, was born in the Deep South in 1892. Over the course of his extraordinary life, he amassed a fortune of over $130 million and a vast business empire. The story of his remarkable life is written with eloquence and grace by his niece, an Emmy¿ Award-winning journalist and her daughter, who holds degrees from Yale and Harvard.
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Black Gold = Standing Ovation
- By 2Fresh on 01-20-16
By: Carol Jenkins
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Never Caught
- By: Erica Armstrong Dunbar
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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When George Washington was elected president, he reluctantly left behind his beloved Mount Vernon to serve in Philadelphia, the temporary seat of the nation's capital. In setting up his household, he took Tobias Lear, his celebrated secretary, and eight slaves, including Ona Judge, about which little has been written. As he grew accustomed to Northern ways, there was one change he couldn't get his arms around: Pennsylvania law required enslaved people be set free after six months of residency in the state. Washington decided to circumvent the law.
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Wonderful audiobook
- By Brad Turner on 03-07-17
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What listeners say about The Devil's Half Acre
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- john hill
- 01-16-24
The authors ability to keep me interested in a nonfiction book, while tracing the life of the beautiful, mixed race woman.
This book offered an interesting picture of history from slavery to present. It was written to include important parts of American History. It truly showed America at its best and America at its worst.
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- Jill
- 11-12-22
Informative and compelling
This book was so very interesting. I never before imagined how it might have felt to be the mother of children forced upon me by my own enslaver. The author took us to that place. Our nation needs to know this history and needs to pay homage to those who built this land. It’s not about shame, guilt and blame. We need to honor, respect and remember the lives of all the enslaved ancestors who paid for our nation’s prosperity with their blood, trauma and work.
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- Yvette
- 07-26-23
Tells many stories
I’m a living historian and reading this book connects so many dots of so many people and places. So good I had to buy the print copy to use as a reference. Thank you
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1 person found this helpful
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- LZSmith
- 08-26-24
Another Unknown Piece of History
This was a painful yet enlightening lesson on the greatness of enslaved Black Americans and those who fought, sacrificed, and survived the unspeakable.This is a telling story of the evil that men do. There is so much to say about it. I am grateful.
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- Elizabeth Combs
- 09-13-22
Preachy
Well researched. Weak thread associated with the title. Would have been stronger if the story would have been permitted to tell itself.
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14 people found this helpful
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- Joy Price
- 06-03-24
so informative
well written. so much history I didn't know about. will make me do more research.
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- KEB
- 04-10-24
Outstanding!
A new perspective on the role of enslaved persons in American history. Not to be missed!
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- lauren d.
- 07-06-22
Greatful for this read.
Really loved this piece. I wish I'd known about Mary Lumpkin sooner and everyone that was placed in connection to what she'd endured as both an enslaved and freed Black woman. Very informative and well articulated. 👏
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13 people found this helpful
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- LadyBird
- 06-27-23
Uncovered gem
Really eye opening, and informative story, it did a stellar job of breaking down the day to day, and illustrating the stakes of what Mary Lumpkin went through to survive it all.
A must read.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Donna
- 01-14-23
Lots of history
Narrator is amazing telling this historical story of slavery and the largest shave jail in Richmond
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