In this Book

buy this book Buy This Book in Print
summary

Zephaniah Kingsley is best known for his Fort George Island plantation in Duval County, Florida, now a National Park Service site, and for his 1828 pamphlet, A Treatise on the Patriarchal System of Society, that advocated just and human treatment of slaves, liberal emancipation policies, and granting rights to free persons of color. Paradoxically, his fortune came from the purchase, sale, and labor of enslaved Africans.

In this penetrating biography, Daniel Schafer vividly chronicles Kingsley's evolving thoughts on race and slavery, exploring his business practices and his private life. Kingsley fathered children by several enslaved women, then freed and lived with them in a unique mixed-race family. One of the women--the only one he acknowledged as his "wife" though they were never formally married--was Anta Madgigine Ndiaye (Anna Kingsley), a member of the Senegalese royal family, who was captured in a slave raid and purchased by Kingsley in Havana, Cuba.

A ship captain, Caribbean merchant, and Atlantic slave trader during the perilous years of international warfare following the French Revolution, Kingsley sought protection under neutral flags, changing allegiance from Britain to the United States, Denmark, and Spain. Later, when the American acquisition of Florida brought rigid race and slavery policies that endangered the freedom of Kingsley's mixed-race family, he responded by moving his "wives" and children to a settlement in Haiti he established for free persons of color.

Kingsley's assertion that color should not be a "badge of degradation" made him unusual in the early Republic; his unique life is revealed in this fascinating reminder of the deep connections between Europe, the Caribbean, and the young United States.

Table of Contents

restricted access Download Full Book
  1. Cover
  2. p. 1
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Title Page, Frontispiece, Copyright
  2. pp. 2-5
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Contents
  2. pp. 6-7
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. List of Illustrations
  2. pp. vii-viii
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Preface and Acknowledgments
  2. pp. ix-xiv
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Introduction
  2. pp. 1-6
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 1. The Kingsley Family, Charleston, and the American Revolution
  2. pp. 7-23
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 2. New Brunswick Years: Becoming an Atlantic Trader
  2. pp. 24-34
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 3. "My Saddle Bags Loaded with Specie": Caribbean Commerce in the Age of Revolution
  2. pp. 35-52
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 4. Shifting Loyalties: St. Thomas and the Transit Trade in African Slaves
  2. pp. 53-67
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 5. "Fortune Is Neither to Be Won by Prudence nor Industry": A Slaving Voyage to East Africa
  2. pp. 68-85
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 6. Family Ties: Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley
  2. pp. 86-100
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 7. Laurel Grove Plantation, Slavery, and East Florida's Booming Economy
  2. pp. 101-120
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 8. "Left by the Patriots a Perfect Desert": The Patriot War in East Florida
  2. pp. 121-137
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 9. "Like a Turtle without a Shell": Spain's Final Years in East Florida
  2. pp. 138-155
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 10. "Discreetly Restrained under the Patriarchal System": Life and Labor at Kingsley's Plantations
  2. pp. 156-176
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 11. "The Door of Liberty Is Open to Every Slave Who Can Find the Means of Purchasing Himself ": From Spanish to American Race Relations
  2. pp. 177-190
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 12. "In Trust for Flora Hanahan Kingsley and Her Son Charles": Kingsley as Patriarch
  2. pp. 191-209
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 13. The "Island of Liberty" and Kingsley's Final Journeys
  2. pp. 210-229
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. 14. "To Do Good in This World We Must Have Money": The Kingsley Legacy
  2. pp. 230-246
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Appendix A: Forty-five Slaves Lost, July 1812, at Laurel Grove and Drayton Island
  2. pp. 247-248
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Appendix B: Inventory of Zephaniah Kingsley's Estate at San Jose Plantation, March 13, 1844
  2. pp. 249-250
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Appendix C: Slaves Claimed by George Kingsley from the Estate of Zephaniah Kingsley Jr.
  2. p. 251
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Appendix D: Slaves Recovered by Anna Kingsley from the Estate of Zephaniah Kingsley Jr.
  2. p. 252
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Appendix E: Account of Sales of Property, Sold at Auction, January 1, 1847
  2. p. 253
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Appendix F: Inventory of the Real and Personal Estate of George Kingsley
  2. p. 254
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Appendix G: Account of the Sale of the Personal Estate of George Kingsley, February 1, 1848
  2. pp. 255-256
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Notes
  2. pp. 257-296
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Bibliography
  2. pp. 297-324
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Index
  2. pp. 325-336
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. About the Author
  2. p. 337
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
Back To Top

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.