Sapelo's People: A Long Walk into Freedom

By William S. McFeely

Book Overview

Historian William McFeely, Pulitzer Prize winner in 1982 for Grant: A Biography explores America's history of slavery and reconstruction by recreating the rich but troubled past of the people of Sapelo, a low-lying barrier island off the coast of Georgia. The 67 people living there are all descendants of slaves who once worked its huge cotton plantation, slaves who made the brutal Middle Passage from Africa.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039303643X
• ISBN13: 9780393036435
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 199 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Very interesting

This is a very interesting history and current status report on the people of Sapelo Island, Georgia. The writing is a bit spotty and it should have had better editing, nonetheless, interesting and informative.

Wonderful, moving and personal

I lived on Sapelo with my family for four years as a teenager in the early 1980's. Although well removed now (I live back in my native Australia) I always think about my time there. My mother in-law, knowing of my attachment to the place, bought 'Sapelo's People' for me while on sabatical at the University of Georgia (it's funny how circular life can be!). I put off reading it because I was afraid I would find it too impersonal a history of some painful historical events happening to people I knew and cared about. When I eventually found myself in the right mood for it, I started reading. I can't express the feelings I went through. Suffice to say I was moved to tears at times. I was so glad that someone had been able to put into words the feelings of a place and people that I could never have expressed myself. And I was even gladder for a deeper understanding of the people of Hog Hammock, who included us into their community with such warmth and generosity. Thank you, William.