Sapelo's People: A Long Walk Into Freedom

By William S. McFeely

Book Overview

In this moving and original work, William S. McFeely, one of this country's most distinguished historians, retells the history--and enters into the current-day lives--of the people who inhabit Sapelo's Island off the coast of Georgia, descendants of slaves who once worked its huge cotton plantations. It is at once a richly detailed work of historical reconstruction, a sensitive portrait of the lives of black Americans in this particular place and in our own time, and a moving meditation on race by a writer who has made its painful dilemmas his life's work as a historian.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393313778
• ISBN13: 9780393313772
• Release Date: September 1995
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Very interesting

This is a very interesting history and current status report on the people of Sapelo Island, Georgia. The writing is a bit spotty and it should have had better editing, nonetheless, interesting and informative.

Wonderful, moving and personal

I lived on Sapelo with my family for four years as a teenager in the early 1980's. Although well removed now (I live back in my native Australia) I always think about my time there. My mother in-law, knowing of my attachment to the place, bought 'Sapelo's People' for me while on sabatical at the University of Georgia (it's funny how circular life can be!). I put off reading it because I was afraid I would find it too impersonal a history of some painful historical events happening to people I knew and cared about. When I eventually found myself in the right mood for it, I started reading. I can't express the feelings I went through. Suffice to say I was moved to tears at times. I was so glad that someone had been able to put into words the feelings of a place and people that I could never have expressed myself. And I was even gladder for a deeper understanding of the people of Hog Hammock, who included us into their community with such warmth and generosity. Thank you, William.