The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White

Henry Wiencek

Sep 2020 · Macmillan + ORM

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As the country enters a new era of conversations around race and the enduring impact of slavery, The Hairstons traces the rise and fall of the largest slaveholding family in the Old South as its descendants—both black and white—grapple with the twisted legacy of their past.

Spanning two centuries of one family’s history, The Hairstons tells the extraordinary story of the Hairston clan, once the wealthiest family in the Old South and the largest slaveholder in America. With several thousand black and white members, the Hairstons of today share a complex and compelling history: divided in the time of slavery, they have come to embrace their past as one family.

For seven years, journalist Henry Wiencek combed the far-reaching branches of the Hairston family tree to piece together a family history that involves the experiences of both plantation owners and their slaves. Crisscrossing the old plantation country of Virginia, North Carolina, and Mississippi, The Hairstons reconstructs the triumphant rise of the remarkable children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the enslaved as they fought to take their rightful place in mainstream America. It also follows the white descendants through the decline and fall of the Old South, and uncovers the hidden history of slavery's curse—and how that curse followed slaveholders for generations.

Expertly weaving stories of horror, tragedy, and heroism, The Hairstons addresses our nation’s attempt to untangle the twisted legacy of the past, and provides a transcendent account of the human power to overcome.

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HenryWiencek, a nationally prominent historian and writer, and a Fellow at Virginia
Humanities, is the author of numerous books, including OldHouses, The Hairstons: An American
Family in Black and White, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves. He has appeared on BookTV, 60MinutesII, CBS SundayMorning, and FreshAirWithTerryGross.