The Road to Frogmore: Turning Slaves into Citizens

By CarolynSchriber

General Fiction

Language: English Not Rated (NR)

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No. of pages

102

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What could possibly go wrong? Laura Town and her life-long friend EllenMurray joined the Port Royal Experiment in 1862 to test their abolitionistideals against the realities of slaves abandoned by their owners in the LowCountry of South Carolina. They hoped to find a place they could call home, aswell as an outlet for their talents as schoolteacher and doctor. It seemedlike a good idea at the time, until . . .

Until they experienced the climate—violent storms spawned over the Atlantic,searing heat, tainted by swamp gasses, cockroaches, bedbugs, swarmingmosquitoes,and “no-see-ums” that left nasty bites in their wake.

Until they met the slaves themselves—full of fear andresentment of white people caused by centuries of cruelty, slaves who had neverseen the outside world, slaves whose superstitions included breath-suckingnight hags, evil graybeards living in local trees, and unfree spirits rollingdown the roads at night in balls of fire.

Until the dedication of the missionaries found itself testedby lack of food, furniture, medicine, and the bare necessities of life. Until the unity of the abolitionist effortfell apart under the strains of religious differences and unrecognizedprejudices.

And until the combination of battle wounds and a raging smallpoxepidemic made death their constant companion. Could these two independent womensurvive the Civil War and achieve their goal of turning slaves into citizens?