I have recently been gifted the texts of two remarkable books: One the story of Mosses Roper, who was only 25% African and suffered cruelly due to his white appearance and this resemblance to his slave master father, and the story of the 1848 escape from slavery of MÕ½latto William Craft and his half-white wife. Both Roper and Craft discuss the wide spread evidence of white slavery in America as late as 1848, an assertion that Solomon Northup alluded to, that poor whites were kidnapped as children and passed off as mixed-race slaves. White Identity readers might be interested to know that as late as the 1800s German Children of free parents were being sold as slaves and passed off as mixed-race chattel.
More than the Story of these two remarkable men and one very brave woman, ‘I Am White’ is the story of a nation where the son or daughter of a mixed-race marriage is under legal stricture and cultural convention—both legally and morally bound—to claim the lesser half of his parentage. What this says about America’s reputation for seemingly adopting the “lowest common denominator” on every social question remains to be seen as the texts are examined. Although I have read Roper’s account, I have not read Craft’s account and am very much interested in examining it as he had an intellect to rival Frederick Douglas.
The first portion of the book is reproduction of William Craft’s account. The second portion is a reproduction of Moses Roper’s harrowing life. Both will be footnoted for the general reader. The final portion shall be a brief overview of other mixed race slaves and their fate.
-James LaFond, 9/6/16
America in Chains
