This book is a case study of the family of slave Sally Thomas in the antebellum era through the conclusion of the Civil War. Sally's owner allowed her to establish a laundry business in the city of Nashville and to live independently with her two Virginia-born sons and, later, a third son born several years after her arrival in Nashville. Eventually Sally was able to accumulate enough money to buy her own freedom and the freedom of two of her sons. (Her middle son, with her encouragement, escaped North to Buffalo in 1834.)

The family's history has been preserved through letters, personal papers, and the autobiography of Sally's youngest son, James. These family papers, plus additional research in census, property, court, newspaper, and other types of records, allowed the authors to reconstruct this family's history. This is both a strength and a weakness of the book. Sally never learned to read or write, but all of her sons were literate, as were the grandsons we learn of in the book. The family letters and reminiscences allow us to know much more about Sally than could be discovered solely through the public records that remain from the era. What is missing, however, is a woman's perspective, whether Sally's or any other woman's. The letters and autobiography were written by Sally's sons and grandsons, and both of the book's authors are men. This shows in the portions of the book describing Sally's life and thoughts. I learned just enough about Sally to make me regret that there isn't more that can be known about her. ( )

Author can't be an expert on slave relations, his family situation precluded that. He came from a family that could send him to college and his parents did not work as slaves at any time. Although he is African American, his experiences and background put him in the black middle class. ( )