The Vice President's Black Wife - (A Ferris and Ferris Book) by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers

Book Synopsis

Award-winning historian Amrita Chakrabarti Myers has recovered the riveting, troubling, and complicated story of Julia Ann Chinn (ca. 1796-1833), the enslaved mixed-race wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, owner of Blue Spring Farm, veteran of the War of 1812, and US vice president under Martin Van Buren. Johnson never freed Chinn, but during his frequent absences from his estate, he delegated to her the management of his property, including Choctaw Academy, a boarding school for Indigenous men and boys. This meant that Chinn had substantial control over economic, social, financial, and personal affairs within the couple's world, including overseeing Blue Spring's enslaved labor force. Chinn's relationship with Johnson was unlikely a consensual one since she was never manumitted.

Review Quotes

"Groundbreaking. . . . A deeply researched and elegantly written biography."--Ms. magazine

"Illuminating. . . . Myers painstakingly pieces together this long-hidden history. The result is a revealing exploration of the intersection of race, gender, power, and property in eighteenth-century America."--Publishers Weekly

"Myers's deft analysis of her sources and obvious passion for excavating well-buried family histories provide a much-needed account of enslaved women's experiences in the nineteenth century. It is another laudable contribution in the ongoing work of giving a voice to silenced histories. . . . An important scholarly contribution."--Journal of Southern History

"The Vice President's Black Wife proves that there are a lot of things about history left to learn. . . . In many ways, as [Myers] shows, women both white and enslaved often had much more power than history books would like us to believe and that, surprisingly, extended to Julia Chinn. It's truly eye-opening."--Philadelphia Tribune

"The [fascinating] story of a remarkable woman who experienced freedom and slavery simultaneously. . . . Myers has conducted arduous research, and she ably introduces a little-known yet important figure in American history . . . . A valuable addition to antebellum history."--Kirkus Reviews

"With The Vice President's Black Wife, Myers finds lessons about America's centuries long perception of race, gender, and politics in a very surprising story."--National Book Review

"The Vice President's Black Wife is beautifully written, and Myers deftly fills in the gaps of Julia [Chinn's] life where the historical record is silent. This is a model for anyone studying the lives of the marginalized, whose records are scarce but whose stories are vital not only to how we understand the past but also to how we make sense of the world of today."--H-War

"[An] impressive biography . . . . an excellent primer for scholars, teachers, and undergraduates interested in the history of mixed-race families and for understanding how enslavers treated Black men and women as both kin and property."--CHOICE

"Myers carefully stitches together the story of Julia Ann Chinn, the enslaved wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, Martin Van Buren's vice president, recounting her life on his estate and the public controversy over their relationship."--New York Times Book Review

"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."--Library Journal

About the Author

Amrita Chakrabarti Myers is the Ruth N. Halls Professor of History and Gender Studies at Indiana University Bloomington. She is the author of Forging Freedom: Black Women and the Pursuit of Liberty in Antebellum Charleston.