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Bezig met laden... The Strange Career of William Ellis: The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionairedoor Karl Jacoby
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. Also known as Guillaume Elliseo and variations, Ellis seems to have been born into slavery in Texas, but in later life was involved in cross-border politics and even Wall Street finance as a Mexican who claimed Spanish descent, taking advantage of American uncertainties about racial meanings outside the US. Ellis/Elliseo promoted African-American colonization of Mexico, though it mostly failed, and otherwise acted as an entrepreneur and politician. Because of his many names, it was hard to trace him, and digitization has only helped somewhat. Jacoby tells his story as one about the permeability and manipulability of borders—he was often able to use American racial ideology against itself, even as white American and Mexican racism both tried to suppress those of African descent; he also didn’t completely succeed, as when he was excluded from railroad cars reserved for whites. But because of the uncertainties and poor record keeping surrounding the border, even a failure once didn’t necessarily stick the next time. Of course, the same could probably not be said today, with its more comprehensive surveillance and classification. ( ) geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
Prijzen
"A prize-winning historian tells a new story of the black experience in America through the life of a mysterious entrepreneur. To his contemporaries in Gilded Age Manhattan, Guillermo Eliseo was a fantastically wealthy Mexican, the proud owner of a luxury apartment overlooking Central Park, a busy Wall Street office, and scores of mines and haciendas in Mexico. But for all his obvious riches and his elegant appearance, Eliseo was also the possessor of a devastating secret: he was not, in fact, from Mexico at all. Rather, he had begun life as a slave named William Ellis, born on a cotton plantation in southern Texas during the waning years of King Cotton. After emancipation, Ellis, capitalizing on the Spanish he learned during his childhood along the Mexican border and his ambivalent appearance, engaged in a virtuoso act of reinvention. He crafted an alter ego, the Mexican Guillermo Eliseo, who was able to access many of the privileges denied to African Americans at the time: traveling in first-class train berths, staying in upscale hotels, and eating in the finest restaurants. The Strange Career of William Ellis reads like a novel but offers fresh insights on the history of the Reconstruction era, the US-Mexico border, and the abiding riddle of race. At a moment when the United States is deepening its connections with Latin America and recognizing that race is more than simply black or white, Ellis's story could not be more timely or important"--Provided by publisher. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)306.3Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Culture and Institutions Economic institutionsLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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