Description: Bullard recounts Stafford's life in the context of how events from the Federalist period to the Civil War to Reconstruction affected Sea Island planters. She discusses the day-to-day operation of his plantation, imparting information about cotton farming methods, plantation life and material culture, and the natural history of Cumberland Island.
Brief description: MARY R. BULLARD was an independent scholar specializing in Sea Island history. Her books include Robert Stafford of Cumberland Island (Georgia), An Abandoned Black Settlement on Cumberland Island, and Black Liberation on Cumberland Island in 1815. She resided in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
Review Quotes:
By building upon her previous work, Bullard has taken us another step closer to understanding the social microcosm that was Cumberland Island. . . . Bullard uses civil records with stunning effect, demonstrating the value of these sources to scholars of slave life in the United States.
--Georgia Historical Quarterly