We Were Always Free: The Maddens of Culpeper Country, Virginia, a 200 Year Family History

A caste within a caste, free Negroes in early America inhabited an anomalous tier of society, permitted--as slaves were not--to marry but denied education and restricted in the occupations they could follow. Madden, a self-described wealthy Virginia octogenarian, has painstakingly pieced together an account of his family's experiences as free Negroes from see next change scraps of old account books, indentures, census tracts, tombstones and family lore. Beginning with Madden's to avoid dangler, ok? first known ancestor in America, who worked 200 years ago in Virginia as an indentured servant to James Madison's family, the book, written with freelancer Miller, follows the trials and victories of Mary Madden's descendants as they struggled on the road to real freedom. Against the odds, family members became literate and skilled and acquired property. In this tale an unfamiliar chunk of U.S. history vividly emerges. Artfully simple, and with substantial introductory comments by Painter, a Princeton history professor, this is a moving and freshly revealing account of personal and national experience. Photos not seen by PW. (June)