The Vice Presidents Black Wife, Amrita Chakrabarti Myers
The Vice Presidents Black Wife, Amrita Chakrabarti Myers
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The Vice President's Black Wife
The Untold Life of Julia Chinn

Author: Amrita Chakrabarti Myers

Narrator: Janina Edwards

Unabridged: 10 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 01/14/2025


Synopsis

Award-winning historian Amrita Chakrabarti Myers has recovered the riveting, troubling, and complicated story of Julia Ann Chinn (ca. 1796–1833), the enslaved wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, owner of Blue Spring Farm, veteran of the War of 1812, and US vice president under Martin Van Buren. Johnson never freed Chinn, but during his frequent absences from his estate, he delegated to her the management of his property, including Choctaw Academy, a boarding school for Indigenous men and boys on the grounds of the estate. This meant that Chinn, although enslaved herself, oversaw Blue Spring's slave labor force and had substantial control over economic, social, financial, and personal affairs within the couple's world. Chinn's relationship with Johnson was unlikely to have been consensual since she was never manumitted.

What makes Chinn's life exceptional is the power that Johnson invested in her, the opportunities the couple's relationship afforded her and her daughters, and their community's tacit acceptance of the family—up to a point. When the family left their farm, they faced steep limits. Johnson's relationship with Chinn ruined his political career and Myers compellingly demonstrates that it wasn't interracial sex that led to his downfall but his refusal to keep it—and Julia Chinn—behind closed doors.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Lois on October 18, 2023

This was excellent if a bit dry in places. I learned SO much.......more

Goodreads review by David on November 11, 2023

By the end of this book, the author has thoroughly convinced me of the book's importance. She suggests that, far from thinking that the entire story of the history of enforced black servitude in the United States has been told, there is still much to uncover and learn, especially about the lives of......more

Goodreads review by Lily on June 24, 2024

Amita Chakrabarti Myers brings Julia Ann Chinn, the secret wife and mistress of Richard Mentor Johnson, to life. Johnson, vice president to Martin Van Buren, lived in Kentucky, and Julia was enslaved by his parents and eventually given to him. Though they never married, Julia and Johnson had two dau......more

Goodreads review by Alanna on December 23, 2024

Really good research and history. She really looks everywhere to find the story of Julia Chinn when the historic records ignore black women. Appreciate how she imagined the different ways Julia and her family could have felt or needed to live to survive. I think it could have been a bit shorter and......more