Author, 18, from Williamsburg examines race through his family’s eyes in book

Posted in Articles, Biography, History, Media Archive, Slavery, United States, Virginia on 2016-02-25 01:58Z by Steven

Author, 18, from Williamsburg examines race through his family’s eyes in book

The Virginia Gazette
Williamsburg, Virginia
2016-02-16

Heather Bridges, Contact Reporter


Canaan Kennedy, 18, is a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University who grew up in Williamsburg. He recently published a book, his first, on family members’ experiences with race. (Heather Bridges / The Virginia Gazette)

Canaan Kennedy just wants to change the world.

He says it casually, as if the conviction is common. That’s the kind of drive Kennedy has, the drive he’s always known. His grandfather co-founded an international nonprofit. His grandmother is an award-winning playwright. His father is a writer, producer and publisher.

But as a biracial 18-year-old, Kennedy is still finding his place in the world he seeks to change.

The Williamsburg native recently wrote and self-published a book, “Struggles to Victory,” examining racism in America through the experiences of his father, grandmother and grandfather as African Americans. Kennedy combines biography, interviews and commentary to share his family’s stories…

Read the entire article here.

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Thomas Jefferson advertises for a runaway slave in Williamsburg’s newspaper

Posted in Articles, History, Media Archive, Slavery, United States, Virginia on 2012-10-20 16:03Z by Steven

Thomas Jefferson advertises for a runaway slave in Williamsburg’s newspaper

The Virginia Gazette
Williamsburg, Virginia
1769-09-14
Source: Library of Congress: Thomas Jefferson: Creating a Virginia Republic


Courtesy of the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virgiania

Runaway slaves were not unknown on the Jefferson plantations. In this 1769 advertisement Thomas Jefferson, who had inherited half of his father Peter’s more than sixty slaves, offered a forty shilling reward for the return of “a Mulatto slave called Sandy.” After Sandy’s return, Jefferson sold him, as he did many problem slaves, despite his value as a shoemaker and jockey, to Col. Charles Lewis for 100 pounds on January 29, 1773.

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