August 1, 2023
The story of a remarkable woman who experienced freedom and slavery simultaneously. Myers, a professor of history and gender studies, presents the fascinating story of enslaved mixed-race woman Julia Ann Chinn (c. 1790-1833), who was publicly married to prominent Kentucky politician and decorated War of 1812 veteran Richard Mentor Johnson, who served as vice president in Martin Van Buren's administration after Chinn's death. Myers details the bizarre arrangement that never saw Chinn freed and provided opportunities and obstacles alike for her and the two daughters she and Johnson shared. The author uses surviving papers and letters to detail how Johnson, due to extended absences that his political career necessitated, entrusted Chinn to manage his vast and bustling Blue Spring Farm near Georgetown, Kentucky. She also managed the federally funded Choctaw Academy boarding school on the farm's land and served as hostess for glittering affairs in honor of the likes of the Marquis de Lafayette and James Monroe. Myers delves into the complicated social consequences that the Johnson family faced in matters concerning the local Great Crossing Baptist Church, town functions, and even the graveyard. She discusses how Johnson's relationship with Chinn--and his refusal to keep it under wraps, as did contemporaries in similar situations--greatly damaged him politically despite his service in Congress. Myers acknowledges that researching this book was often frustrating and led to dead ends, yet too often she employs what she calls "informed speculation" concerning the mindsets and motivations of individuals that simply cannot be known. Informed speculation is still speculation, and readers should be trusted to render their own questions or conclusions. Still, Myers has conducted arduous research, and she ably introduces a little-known yet important figure in American history, creating a welcome story of "passing, history, and memory that reveals how we all...continue to feel the effects of slavery." A valuable addition to antebellum history.
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August 28, 2023
Historian Myers (Forging Freedom) delivers an illuminating account of the life of Julia Chinn, the Black wife of Martin Van Buren’s vice president Richard Mentor Johnson. Born sometime between 1790 and 1797, Chinn was originally enslaved by Johnson’s parents in Virginia; at 14 she was moved into Johnson’s plantation home in Kentucky as a housekeeper. Although Julia remained enslaved until her death, she and Richard reportedly were married by a preacher. Richard referred to Julia as his wife and acknowledged the paternity of their two daughters, Imogene and Adaline; he paid for the girls’ education and introduced them to colleagues. His attempts to move his relationship with Julia into the open, including gifts of property to their daughters, eventually cost him friendships, social status, and his presidential ambitions. However, as Myers writes, this “isn’t a romance novel.” Johnson enslaved more than 100 people, routinely had them beaten and sold South, and engaged in coercive sex with other women he viewed as his property. During his long absences, Chinn administered the estate, Myers notes, making her “complicit” in exchange for “upward social mobility” for her descendants, who by the 1850s were living as white people. Through interviews with descendants and archival research, Myers painstakingly pieces together this long-hidden history. The result is a revealing exploration of the intersection of race, gender, power, and property in 18th-century America.
September 22, 2023
Myers's (history and gender studies, Indiana Univ.; Forging Freedom: Black Women and the Pursuit of Liberty in Antebellum Charleston) biography of Julia Chinn (1790-1833) is the story of her lifelong, likely nonconsensual relationship with her enslaver, Richard Mentor Johnson, a powerful Kentucky politician who eventually served as the U.S. vice president after her death and during the administration of Martin Van Buren's 1837-41 term. The book portrays Johnson as viewing Chinn as his common-law wife, although he never gave Chinn her freedom. Records show the two apparently exchanged "vows" before a Baptist preacher. Chinn gave birth to two daughters, who were well educated and who both married white men. Johnson entrusted Chinn to manage his extensive farm enterprises and school for Indigenous peoples in Scott County, KY, while he was in Washington fulfilling his congressional duties. Johnson's relationship with Chinn was an issue for his family and his political campaigns. VERDICT This book not only focuses on Chinn, but it also presents a complex, contested view of the social and moral ecology of the antebellum South and the nation. Myers extends that story to discuss current racial issues.--Glen Edward Taul
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