Authors of three books about slave resistance before the Civil War discussed their works at the University Bookstore yesterday at the panel "Fleeing Slavery: Revolts and Escapes." The event was part of the five-day Virginia Festival of the Book, which began Wednesday.
About 70 people attended the event, including University students and faculty, as well as Charlottesville residents and visitors. The panel discussed the details of their books, revealing lesser-known stories of slave life in the antebellum South.
Author Daniel Rasmussen described the 1811 slave revolt in New Orleans, the subject of his book "American Uprising: The Untold Story of America's Largest Slave Revolt." Rasmussen said he believes understanding historical events such as these is critical to gaining perspective on America's progression.
"It is central to the history of this country in understanding our past," Rasmussen said. "Their actions stand as a testament to the best ideals of this country."
The next speaker, Scott Christianson, discussed his work, "Freeing Charles: The Struggle to Free a Slave on the Eve of the Civil War." The book tells the story of a runaway slave who became a legendary figure in the Underground Railroad.
Christianson explained the challenges for a historian in writing about individual slaves.
"There are so many things about slavery that are still not known," he said. "There are many difficult things to sort out."
The final panelist was journalist Betty DeRamus, who introduced her book "Freedom by Any Means: Con Games, Voodoo Schemes, True Love and Lawsuits on the Underground Railroad." DeRamus shared stories of "people who operated outside the usual parameters" to achieve freedom by unconventional means.
Each author then held a 10-minute discussion of his book. The audience asked questions, prompting the writers to give more specific details of their works and describe their research processes.\n"You'd be surprised where things do show up [in the research process]," DeRamus said. "You just have to be diligent in looking for it."
The Virginia Festival of the Book will continue through Sunday and will hold events on Grounds today and Saturday.
Attendees of the panel were pleased by the event and encouraged fellow members of the University community to attend.
"More students should come," third-year Architecture student Juliana Gutowski said. "It was fun, educational and it made the history books more personal meeting the authors"
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