The Education of Betsey Stockton, Gregory Nobles
The Education of Betsey Stockton, Gregory Nobles
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The Education of Betsey Stockton
An Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom

Author: Gregory Nobles

Narrator: Lisa Reneé Pitts

Unabridged: 10 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/28/2022


Synopsis

The life of Betsey Stockton (ca. 1798–1865) is a remarkable story of a Black woman's journey from slavery to emancipation, from antebellum New Jersey to the Hawai'ian Islands, and from her own self-education to a lifetime of teaching others.

When Betsey Stockton was a child, she was "given, as a slave" to the household of Rev. Ashbel Green, a prominent pastor and later the president of what is now Princeton University. Although she never went to school, she devoured the books in Green's library. After being emancipated, she used that education to benefit other people of color, first in Hawai'i as a missionary, then Philadelphia, and, for the last three decades of her life, Princeton—a college town with a genteel veneer that never fully hid its racial hostility. Betsey Stockton became a revered figure in Princeton's sizeable Black population, a founder of religious and educational institutions, and a leader engaged in the day-to-day business of building communities.

In this first book-length telling of Betsey Stockton's story, Gregory Nobles illuminates both a woman and her world, following her around the globe, and showing how a determined individual could challenge her society's racial obstacles from the ground up. It's at once a revealing lesson on the struggles of Stockton's times and a fresh inspiration for our own.

About Gregory Nobles

Gregory Nobles is professor emeritus of history at Georgia Institute of Technology and a historian who has written extensively on the era from the American Revolution to the Civil War. He is the author or coauthor of several books, including John James Audubon: The Nature of the American Woodsman.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Kathleen on July 16, 2022

A great, and important, read! Gregory Nobles has done an excellent job piecing together this inspiring woman's life--her education, her travels, her work, and her legacy, and with her we witness the growing pains of our country's first century. Along the way we meet supporting characters: her master......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on October 12, 2023

“Here begins the history of things known only to those who have bid the American shores a long adieu.” These are the words of the first sentence from the journal of “an intelligent and philanthropic woman, who had crossed the ocean to aid in enlightening and converting the heathen.” “Such an extensi......more

Goodreads review by Mary on November 15, 2022

Betsey Stockton lived and died in Princeton, New Jersey, our home town. She was a slave in the household of a president of Princeton University. She educated herself using his books. She was freed and became a teacher of "infants" in Philadelphia. From there she joined a group of missionaries to the......more