 | From Slave Ship to Harvard: Yarrow Mamout and the History of an African American Family Subjects: Mamout Yarrow 1736–1823; Mamout Yarrow 1736–1823 -- Family; Slaves -- Maryland -- Biography; Free African Americans -- Maryland -- Biography; African Americans -- Maryland -- Biography; Slavery -- Maryland -- History; African American families -- Mary; In 1752, a 16-year-old literate Muslim was transported from Africa into North American enslavement; in 1923, his great-great-grandson entered Harvard. From the dusty bins of history (wills, estate inventories, ledgers, deeds, census records), and, befitting the lawyer he is, "circumstantial evidence" and the serendipitous discovery of living descendants, Johnston brings fresh dimension to Yarrow Mamout, known primarily as the subject of Charles Willson Peale's 1819 painting. Manumitted in 1796, having already secured the freedom of his son, acquired property, and purchased bank stock, Yarrow died in 1823 in Washington, D.C. The network of extended families and the world of small towns, along with memories rife with variations, make for a thorny thicket of intertwined histories as the lives of his owner Bealls, the painter Peale, and Yarrow's family converge and diverge. Johnston helpfully provides both a family tree and an epilogue locating the historical places (some obliterated by development) in contemporary sites. Yarrow enters art history through Peale's portrait; Johnston's book gives him a tangible, if sometimes speculative, life and legacy. Together, they portray an illuminating, thought-provoking, relatively unusual moment in early American history. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. Johnston James H. : James H. Johnston, an attorney and journalist, has published extensively on national affairs, law, telecommunications, history, and the arts. His contributions include papers on local Washington, D.C., history, Yarrow Mamout, and an edition of The Recollections of Margaret Cabell Brown Loughborough. |
