Claiming Sunday - 2nd Edition by Joleene Maddox Snider (Paperback)

About the Book

"Claiming Sunday tells the story of a remarkable group of African Americans owned by the Devereux Family by developing two main themes: one, to tell the inspiring story of a group of enslaved human beings who survived the dehumanizing system of slavery which held them captive; and, two, to develop slavery as a key to comprehending modern racial relations in a more enlightened and knowledgeable manner. Interviews with descendants of the Devereux Slave Community tell their stories along with the richly detailed narrative, including slave medical care and involvement in the market economy, of the lives of their enslaved ancestors. Julien Devereux, and his father John, came to Texas in 1841 from Alabama. Julien first settled his enslaved in Montgomery County and then moved to Rusk County in 1846. When he died in 1856 he owned 10,500 acres and 75 human beings. Julien's widow Sarah Landrum Devereux ran the plantation until Emancipation in 1865. The Devereux Slave Community centered around two people, Tabby and Scott. Together they raised eleven children and saw their family grow over the years. The Community endured and survived the move from Alabama to Texas, the move from Montgomery County to Rusk County. The breakup of Scott and Tabby's family in a lawsuit filed when John Devereux died threatened to tear the Community apart. Their strength, endurance and determination carried them through the separation and repaired the Community as a whole"--

Book Synopsis

An inspiring story of human souls who survived the dehumanizing system of slavery in the Old South, Claiming Sunday also provides important keys to comprehending modern racial relations in a more enlightening and historically accurate manner.

The story is told through a richly detailed narrative revealing the lives of the enslaved on the Devereux Plantation and through interviews with their modern-day descendants. Julien Devereux and his elderly father, John, came to Texas in 1841 from Alabama. Julien first settled in Montgomery County and then moved to Rusk County in 1846. When he died in 1856 he owned 10,500 acres of East Texas cotton land and seventy-five enslaved Black Americans. Julien's widow, Sarah Landrum Devereux, maintained the plantation through the Civil War.

The Devereux Slave Community centered on two people, Tabby and Scott. Together they raised eleven children and saw their family grow over the years, as other lines were added to the Community. The Slave Community endured the various moves from Alabama to Montgomery County, Texas, and then on to Rusk County, but a lawsuit filed after John Devereux's death broke up Tabby and Scott's immediate family and threatened the unity of the entire Community. The Devereux Slave Community's strength, endurance, and determination helped to repair the damage from the division of the core of the Community and carried them whole through to freedom in 1865.

Review Quotes

"In this tensely wired, swiftly paced story of human trafficking set beautifully among nuanced clashing cultures, author Johnnie Bernhard defines each character's motivation to portray the collision of opposing sides while casting a wide lens on a human atrocity. Hannah and Ariela is the story of one woman's bravery in rescuing another, only to rise phoenix-like into a newly defined, far-reaching life purpose."--Claire Fullerton, New York Journal of Books

About the Author

JOLEENE MADDOX SNIDER is a native Texan. She did her academic work at Southwest Texas State University (Texas State University) and the University of Texas. In 1969 Snider's master's thesis was the first revisionist work done on slavery in Texas. She holds numerous teaching awards from Texas State University.