Quan wrote:
>Finding proof in court records or journals on the relationship of a slave
owner and his female slaves is near to impossible.  Very few owners
acknowledge the children of slave mothers in writing.  


Quan, your statement is supported by many generations of conventional
thought. However, in the past 30 years, a growing body of scholarly
literature (much of it published in the NGS Quarterly and included in the
annual calendars of recent scholarship published by academic journals of
history) seriously challenges that traditional assumption. While it is true
that written paternal acknowledgements are not easy to find via standard
searches in standard records, those who dig deeply enough using
more-creative research strategies are often able to find the sound evidence
that is needed.

If you or any others on the list are interested, contact me offline and I
would be happy to supply a copy of the bibliography of scholarly case
studies that I am maintaining.

Elizabeth Shown Mills, CG, CGL, FASG
(A fellow Southerner--Mississippi born)