Post by Lilah on Nov 18, 2009 9:46:41 GMT -6
I have finally finished the biography I've been working on forever (or at least it seemed like that): Sarah Campbell: The first white woman in the Black Hills was African American
The back cover blurb says it best:
A very short, very heavy-set Sarah Campbell dressed in flashy calico with her trusty black and white dog at her side appeared to be well-known throughout the Black Hills. She cooked and cleaned for others, delivered babies, nursed the sick and loved a good laugh. But very few people knew that she also owned five silver mines.
Was she the woman in the shadowy background of a photograph taken by William H. Illingworth the night before gold was discovered in the Black Hills? Campbell, who cooked for the sutler on Custer’s 1874 Black Hills Expedition, told Chicago Inter-Ocean reporter William Curtis that she also had cooked on the first boat up the Missouri river. Could she really have cooked on the American Fur Company’s steamboat Yellow Stone when she was only eight years old?
The author suggests that Sarah Campbell was the child Sally who was enslaved by fur traders in St. Louis and sued for her freedom at the age of twelve. Sift through the evidence presented to see if you agree.
Lilah Morton Pengra is a professional anthropologist and amateur historian, a combination that will become apparent as she pieces together the puzzle of Sarah Campbell’s life.
Rod Thomas, editor of the LBH Association Newsletter graciously wrote a review comment for the inside front cover:
"This book will establish Lilah Pengra as a major regional historian. Impeccably researched and wonderfully told, she engages us to see ourselves while telling about Aunt Sally. This should be required reading for how to ‘do’ history."
It is for sale on my website: www.LuneHousePublishing.com
Please feel free to email me. I NEVER tire of talking about Campbell!
The back cover blurb says it best:
A very short, very heavy-set Sarah Campbell dressed in flashy calico with her trusty black and white dog at her side appeared to be well-known throughout the Black Hills. She cooked and cleaned for others, delivered babies, nursed the sick and loved a good laugh. But very few people knew that she also owned five silver mines.
Become a sleuth and solve the other mysteries
of Sarah Campbell’s life for yourself!
of Sarah Campbell’s life for yourself!
Was she the woman in the shadowy background of a photograph taken by William H. Illingworth the night before gold was discovered in the Black Hills? Campbell, who cooked for the sutler on Custer’s 1874 Black Hills Expedition, told Chicago Inter-Ocean reporter William Curtis that she also had cooked on the first boat up the Missouri river. Could she really have cooked on the American Fur Company’s steamboat Yellow Stone when she was only eight years old?
The author suggests that Sarah Campbell was the child Sally who was enslaved by fur traders in St. Louis and sued for her freedom at the age of twelve. Sift through the evidence presented to see if you agree.
And, finally, the most interesting mystery of all. Why did Campbell always claim to be the first white woman to enter the Black Hills?
Lilah Morton Pengra is a professional anthropologist and amateur historian, a combination that will become apparent as she pieces together the puzzle of Sarah Campbell’s life.
Rod Thomas, editor of the LBH Association Newsletter graciously wrote a review comment for the inside front cover:
"This book will establish Lilah Pengra as a major regional historian. Impeccably researched and wonderfully told, she engages us to see ourselves while telling about Aunt Sally. This should be required reading for how to ‘do’ history."
It is for sale on my website: www.LuneHousePublishing.com
Please feel free to email me. I NEVER tire of talking about Campbell!