I thought Levy was  convincing in his argument that  Carter has been
overlooked mostly because his story didn't support the myth surrounding
the founding fathers and slavery; i.e., they wanted to free their slaves
but they just couldn't do it in that time and place.
    

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Brent Tarter
Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 11:42 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VA-HIST] Andrew Levy's FIRST EMANCIPATOR

I, too, enjoyed Levy's book on Councilor Robert Carter and his
emancipation of an unprecedentedly large number of enslaved people.

One question that Levy started at the beginning of the book and never
pursued, though, and which has set me to thinking off and on since it
came out, is this: Why did that remarkable event pass largely unnoticed
in the historical literature, even in accounts of the family and the one
previous book on Carter?

My first reaction was that. . . 

On second thought: Here's a good topic for discussion on  Va-Hist.

Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
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