Legacy of a Southern Lady: - by Ann Ratliff Russell (Paperback)

About the Book

This book is a history and portrait of Anna Maria Calhoun Clemson, the daughter and frequent confidante of John Caldwell Calhoun, a significant political and intellectual figure of nineteenth-century American history. Anna married Thomas Green Clemson and together they became co-founders of Clemson University.

Book Synopsis

The interest in Southern women's history has never been higher nor more exciting. And one of the most important nineteenth-century South Carolinians is Anna Maria Calhoun, daughter and frequent confidante of John Caldwell Calhoun, a significant political and intellectual figure of nineteenth-century American history. During one of his periods in Washington, D.C., Anna met and later married a Pennsylvania scientist, Thomas Green Clemson. Subsequently, Anna and Thomas traveled through much of the American east, and became co-founders of Clemson University. Due to Anna's copious correspondence, her papers have offered Anna Ratliff Russell much material to create this fascinating study in nineteenth-century history.
--Jerome V. Reel, Jr., Ph.D., Clemson University Historian

Review Quotes

"Anna Calhoun Clemson was John C. Calhoun's favorite child. After reading Ann Russell's biography based on Anna's letters, one finds it easy to understand why. The product of a famous family and an exceptional woman, Anna was also, as Russell ably demonstrates, very much 'a southern lady.' Her story--her 'life's journey, ' as Calhoun told his daughter her life would be-gives us a glimpse of an important southern family, of southern womanhood, of heartbreak and difficulty, of a nation torn apart by sectional conflict. Like Mary Chesnut's famous diary, Anna's letters, the crux of Russell's study, provide us with a rich, detailed picture of southern life, both personal and public."

--Dr. C. Alan Grubb