Passenger on the Pearl: The True Story of Emily Edmonson’s Flight from Slavery by Winifred Conkling (review)

In 1848, a group of more than seventy slaves from the Washington D.C. area hired the service of a sympathetic ship captain and made a desperate run for freedom aboard the cargo schooner Pearl. Foul weather forced the ship to shelter in a protected bay, while the treachery of a black cab driver put the slaves’ owners and the law on their trail. The mission was scuttled, and most of the slaves were sold South by their disgruntled owners. Conkling traces the atypical experiences of the six Edmonson siblings, particularly the youngest, thirteen-year-old Emily and fifteen-year-old Sarah, who quickly caught the attention of abolitionists. The very real threat of the girls being sold into the New Orleans sex trade made them poster children for the abolitionist cause, but even their champions were divided on whether raising money to “buy” the girls (which was eventually what happened) was the most prudent, or even ethical, way to counter the evil of slavery. Conkling is a fine narrator, crafting a compelling opening scene concerning the Edmonson mother’s advice on why slaves should never marry, segueing into the tragic escape attempt and the last-minute reprieves that kept the girls off the auction block, and ending with a family reunion (complete except for one child who was never found) that few such families ever enjoyed. Readers familiar with the trials of Solomon Northup (Stolen into Slavery, BCCB 4/12) will find this equally involving. Notes, bibliography, family tree, and index are included.