Black Livingstone: A True Tale of Adventure in the Nineteenth-Century Congo

Pagan Kennedy

Sep 2013 · Santa Fe Writer's Project

About this ebook

A largely untold story of an extraordinary historical figure, this biography sheds light on the life of William Sheppard, a 19th-century African American who, for more than 20 years, defied segregation and operated a missionary run by black Americans in the Belgian Congo. This work shows how Sheppard returned to the United States periodically, and traveled the country telling tales of his adventures to packed auditoriums. An anthropologist, photographer, big-game hunter, and art collector, the man billed as the &“Black Livingstone&” helped expose the atrocities that occurred under the reign of King Leopold, and this stirring work tells how he eventually helped to break Belgium's hold on the Congo.

About the author

Pagan Kennedy is a writer and a pioneer of the 1990s zine movement. She is the author of 10 books, is a regular contributor to the Boston Globe, and has published articles in dozens of magazines and newspapers, including Boston Magazine and the New York Times. She has served as a visiting professor of creative writing at Dartmouth College and has taught writing at Boston College and Johns Hopkins University. She is currently the design columnist for the New York Times Magazine. She lives in Boston.