Volunteer State Community College: Sumner County Slave Trade Presentation

Press release from Volunteer State Community College:

February 21, 2022

One of the south’s most “successful” slave traders lived in Sumner County. Isaac Franklin, his relatives, and business partners, grew a family operation into one of the largest slave trading networks in the United States. University of Alabama history professor Joshua Rothman wrote extensively about the Franklin family in his book “The Ledger and the Chain.” Rothman will be speaking about his work for the first time in Sumner County in a presentation at Volunteer State Community College.

“Mr. Rothman has done an astounding amount of research into period narratives testifying to the brutality endured by trafficking victims,” said the Wall Street Journal in a 2021 review of  “The Ledger and the Chain.” “Other scholars have produced accounts of the domestic slave trade. Mr. Rothman writes about slave traders, and puts an indelible face on their inhumanity.”

“Mr. Rothman has done an astounding amount of research into period narratives testifying to the brutality endured by trafficking victims,” said the Wall Street Journal in a 2021 review of  “The Ledger and the Chain.” “Other scholars have produced accounts of the domestic slave trade. Mr. Rothman writes about slave traders, and puts an indelible face on their inhumanity.”

A building from the original Isaac Franklin plantation, the Fairvue Mansion in Gallatin, is still standing, just down the street from the Vol State campus in Gallatin. The Rothman presentation is organized by the VSCC Reconciliation Initiative Committee. Faculty members say it’s the culmination of a year-long reading event in the Humanities Division.

A building from the original Isaac Franklin plantation, the Fairvue Mansion in Gallatin, is still standing, just down the street from the Vol State campus in Gallatin.

“The local nature of this history makes it something the college cannot ignore,” said faculty member, Arlo Hall. “This is an opportunity to connect Vol State students to an award-winning national author.”

Josuha Rothman will have a presentation and book signing on Wednesday, March 23 at 11:15am at Caudill Hall on the Vol State campus in Gallatin, 1480 Nashville Pike. There will be a book signing prior to the presentation. The event is free and open to everyone. It will also be streamed on Zoom at https://bit.ly/3LApFeJ. For more information call 615-230-3200. The event is sponsored by the Vol State Diversity Committee, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Student Government Association, the Black Student Association, and the Vol State chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa honors society.

https://bit.ly/3LApFeJ

This press release was produced by Volunteer State Community College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.