The Secret Trust of Aspasia Cruvellier Mirault: The Life and Trials of a Free Woman of Color in Antebellum Georgia

Historian Sumler-Edmond's book spotlights a mostly forgotten property dispute in 19th-century Savannah, Ga., that erupted into a “legal quagmire” revealing “a clandestine agreement between a matronly free woman of color and a young white man.” The Cruvelliers, “free mulattoes from Santo Domingo,” arrived in Georgia in 1800, fleeing the turmoil of the Haitian revolution; Aspasia built a successful business, but prohibited from purchasing property as a black person, she enlisted George Cally to make the bid and down payment with her money. The arrangement worked well—a romantic attachment between Aspasia's daughter and Cally is hinted at—but when mother and daughter died, the family “lost their two closest links” to Cally, who claimed sole ownership. Sumler-Edmond recreates the battle of the heirs with a wealth of research, legal documentation, trial records and local history. This carefully speculative history is heavy going at times, but scholars will find this chip in the monolithic view of antebellum Southern life worthy of attention, while general readers may want to wait for the novel this ought to inspire. (Nov.)