Part 32 (1/2)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

My deepest thanks to . . .

Ann Kidd Taylor, an exceptionally gifted writer and author, who read and reread this ma.n.u.script in progress, offering me invaluable comments and endless believing.

Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, my amazing agent and dear friend.

My terrific editor, Paul Slovak, and Clare Ferraro, and the extraordinary team at Viking for their boundless support.

Valerie Perry, Aiken-Rhett House museum manager at Historic Charleston Foundation, who gave so generously of her time and efforts and offered tremendous help with my research.

Carter Hudgens, director of preservation and education at Drayton Hall in Charleston, for his time and insights into the life and history of enslaved people.

The following inst.i.tutions, which, along with Historic Charleston Foundation and Drayton Hall, served as resources: the Charleston Museum, the Charleston Library Society, the College of Charleston's Addlestone Library and the Avery Research Center, the Charleston County Public Library, the South Caroliniana Library, the Aiken-Rhett House Museum, the Nathaniel Russell House Museum, the Charles Pinckney House, the Old Slave Mart, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Lowcountry Africana, Middleton Place, and Boone Hall Plantation.

Pierce, Herns, Sloan & Wilson, LLC of Charleston, which allowed me to explore to my heart's content the historic house that once belonged to the Grimke family (named the Blake House for its original owner).

Jacqueline Coleburn, rare book cataloger at the Library of Congress in Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., for her enormous a.s.sistance in providing me with a treasure trove of letters, newspapers, Anti-Slavery Convention proceedings, and other doc.u.ments related to Sarah and Angelina Grimke and early-nineteenth-century history.

Doris Bowman, a.s.sociate curator and specialist, Textile Collection at the National Museum of American History in Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., for welcoming me into the Smithsonian archives to view Harriet Powers' Bible Quilt and for supplying me with a wealth of information about it.

The New-York Historical Society for making available doc.u.ments related to the Grimke sisters and Denmark Vesey, including official reports of Vesey's insurrection and trial.

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, which awed and educated me with its exhibits and interactive experiences on slavery and abolition.

Marilee Birchfield, librarian at the University of South Carolina, for aid with research questions.

Robert Kidd and Kellie Bayuzick Kidd for being willing and able research a.s.sistants.