The story was inspired by actual events,
specifically the U.S. Supreme Court case Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 1842. I first
learned about it when I was doing freelance copyediting for a book about
Supreme Court justices. The case appealed the conviction of a bounty hunter
from Maryland (Edward Prigg) charged
with kidnapping Margaret Morgan, a free woman of color living in Pennsylvania
who was alleged to be an escaped slave. The court case focused on state's
rights, and the ruling represented the first time a major branch of the U.S.
government made a proslavery stand. But I was most interested in Margaret and
what became of her.
My original goal was to write a biography, and I
spent about three years researching her life -- or, at least, attempting to
research her life. The sad truth is that Margaret and her fate were irrelevant
at the time. The issue for most people in the mid-1800s was much bigger than
one woman's fight for freedom. Yet, to me, it was all about Margaret. When I
realized I didn't have enough facts to write a biography, I was devastated and
grudgingly packed away my research.
Then my mother-in-law loaned me a book, a
fictional biography about George Washington, by Mary Higgins Clark. It was an
entertaining read, and it gave me the idea that a fictional biography might be
the only way I could tell Margaret's story and really do it justice.
That's how my novel was born. Tons of secondary
research went into the book. I devoured reference books, diaries, slave
testimonials, newspaper archives -- anything I could get my hands on to help me
better understand what the average person experienced on any given day in that era.
That research provided the factual framework of the novel, and I filled in the
blanks based on what my mind, my heart and my gut were telling me as each scene
unfolded.
What really happed to Margaret Morgan? No one
knows. What I do know is that she suffered a great injustice. And it was a
similar injustice suffered by thousands of other women just like her -- wives,
mothers, daughters -- during that dark period in U.S. history. That fact is
what propelled the fictional story I ultimately wrote.
The history books will have you believe the story
of Prigg v. Pennsylvania is important because it ended in controversy and
fanned the early embers of the Civil War. This book will have you believe the
story is important because it began with Margaret.
All Different Kinds of Free is available in trade paperback and e-book from Bell Bridge Books.
Learn more at the official website http://www.AllDifferentKindsOfFree.com
Buy the book from your local bookseller
or
from Amazon US
