The Pages In Between

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Archive for July, 2009

The Known World by Edward P. Jones

Monday, July 6th, 2009
Review: Henry Townsend, once a slave belonging to William Robbins, the son of Augustus Townsend (who bought himself out of slavery at the age off 22) and Mildred Townsend (purchased out of slavery by Augustus at the age of 26) was himself freed by his loving parents somewhere around 1843 when he too was entering his twenties. Due to the fact that Henry continued to be the property of William Robbins during the intervening years before his freedom, as well as the fact that his parents were only allowed to see Henry on Sundays, the relationship between the newly freed son and his parents struggled to live up to the promise that freedom held. Their unease with each other grows even more once Henry Townsend, a freed black man, purchases his own slaves. Read the rest of this entry »