In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • The Accidental Slaveowner: Revisiting a Myth of Race and Finding an American Family by Mark Auslander
  • John H. Metoyer (bio)
Mark Auslander . The Accidental Slaveowner: Revisiting a Myth of Race and Finding an American Family. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2011. 383 pp. Paper: $24.95. ISBN 978-0-8203-4043-2.

Mark Auslander's ethnographic study, The Accidental Slaveowner: Revisiting a Myth of Race and Finding an American Family, sets out to answer the complex question of how, in 1834, a soon-to-be Methodist bishop, the Reverend James Osgood Andrew, could have possibly become a slave owner while holding a respected position in a Christian sect that was progressively moving in the direction of taking an official pro-abolitionist stance? Accidentally, of course, or at least this is what the myth surrounding Bishop Andrew and his slave, Miss Kitty, tells us. What Auslander discovers in his research is not one, but two opposing sets of myths surrounding the relationship of Andrew and Kitty.

The center of Auslander's study begins in the small town of Oxford, Georgia, which is the original home of Emory University and the birthplace of the myths surrounding Miss Kitty Andrew, a slave who was rumored to have been left to the Andrew family by an aunt of Mrs. James Andrew. Through lengthy research and interviews that stretch from Midwestern towns in Iowa and Illinois to the deep South, Auslander uncovers two distinct and very complex myths: the Anglo-American myth, which depicts Bishop Osgood as the wrongfully accused, beneficent church leader who falls victim to his own generosity and goodness when his offer of freedom is refused by his accidental slave; and the African American myth, which portrays Miss Kitty as a powerless pawn and paints the bishop in the lurid colors of a manipulative, misogynistic opportunist, willing to do whatever it takes to become the national head of the Methodist Episcopal Church. What Auslander concludes, as he disentangles these contradictory myths, is that, as with all conflict and local myth, reality is not as clean-cut and simple as one is led to believe by the parties involved.

Though Bishop Andrew is an important character, the myth surrounding Miss Kitty is clearly the catalyst of Auslander's study. This is evident in Chapters 1 and 2, which take the reader from modern-day Oxford, Georgia, through the historical circumstances and relationships that defined American slavery, including the familial nature of the owner-servant relationships associated with chattel slavery in general, and specifically with the Andrew family.

Chapters 3 through 6 examine how the actual events, buildings, spaces, and relationships associated with Miss Kitty have become transformed and mythologized over 160 years of history. In the remaining Chapters 7 through 9, Auslander does an excellent job of uncovering, presenting, and piecing together the raw historical evidence associated with the various elements of myths surrounding Miss Kitty. This includes an in-depth investigation of the locations of Kitty Andrew's living descendants and a detailed history of what became of her children and grandchildren immediately following Miss Kitty's death, taking us into post-Civil War America. While interesting, the account of Miss Kitty's progeny strays from the core of what the study is really about—the actual history of Miss Kitty and the evolution of the myths that surround [End Page 559] her. It is unclear how the telling of her children's lives adds to the otherwise fascinating thesis Auslander develops in previous chapters.

The story of Kitty Andrew is important for several reasons, but domestic relationships between owner and slave are not unique in American history. Kitty's story and others like it in antebellum America highlight the complexities of these relationships, the devastation to family and individual lives these relationships caused, and the twisted logic that was the foundation of such relationships. What makes the Kitty Andrew story more significant is the historical implications associated with her life and her suspect decision to remain in slavery, which brought about the split in the Methodist Church and served as a precursor to the Civil War. Auslander does an exceptional job of presenting the facts of history that detail...

pdf

Share