Prisoners of War: Historical Accounts of Chattel Slavery in Randolph County, Missouri

Prisoners of War: Historical Accounts of Chattel Slavery in Randolph County, Missouri

Publish Date:
30 Nov, 25
Categories:
Tags:
ISBN 10:
Coming in November
Pages:
200
Dimension:
6X9

Description:

3D book cover for Prisoners of War: Historical Accounts of Chattel Slavery in Randolph County, Missouri (1820–1865). The cover features stark red and white leafless trees against a black background, with an emblem of broken chains and uplifted hands at the center.

💰 Price: $24.88

[Read a Sample PDF]

Coming Soon

🔎 Overview

Prisoners of War is a forthcoming historical volume that uncovers the rarely told truth of chattel slavery in Randolph County, Missouri. This book will present a powerful collection of verified newspaper clippings, estate notices, sale announcements, runaway ads, and firsthand accounts that document the lived experiences of enslaved Black Americans during Missouri’s most violent era of captivity.

🗞️ What to Expect

This archival compilation will serve as both a historical record and an emotional testimony. Each clipping included in the volume has been carefully sourced and preserved to highlight:

  • Property records naming enslaved individuals

  • Notices of capture, sale, or escape

  • Early Missouri newspaper ads dehumanizing Black bodies

  • The transition from slavery to early “freedom” in 1865

Through these primary sources, Prisoners of War exposes how slavery in Missouri was not a footnote — but a system of intentional captivity enforced by courts, businesses, and churches alike.

📍 Why Randolph County?

Missouri, often overlooked in national slavery conversations, was a slave state that bordered the Confederacy. Randolph County — and specifically the city of Moberly — played a central role in enslaving Indigenous Black Americans, often masking their tribal identity under fabricated race codes. This book reclaims that truth.

📚 Who Is This Book For?

Whether you are a descendant seeking to understand your family’s forced migration, a genealogist uncovering lost names, or a researcher challenging the narrative of Missouri’s so-called neutrality, Prisoners of War is for you.

🏛️ Part of the Archival Collection

This volume is part of the Randolph County Historical Black Society’s ongoing archival book series, documenting the stories, struggles, and legacies of Black Americans throughout Missouri history.

📅 Release Date

Coming Soon — Subscribe to the Missouri Historical Black Society newsletter for updates, launch announcements, and early access.

🔗 Connect With Us

📬 Email: info@missourihbs.org
🌐 Website: www.missourihbs.org

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

You were never meant to do this alone. Tracing our lineage is sacred work — a calling passed down through blood and spirit. Even when the records are broken or the names are wrong, the truth is still there, waiting. This space was built to help you uncover it with guided steps, intuitive tools, and the ancestral wisdom already rising in you.

Pencil sketch of a young Black boy standing with eyes closed and hand over heart, as sun rays pour down onto his head. His legs extend into deep tree roots, with ancestral silhouettes in the background.

If you’ve got a surname, a family story, or even just a feeling — you’re ready. We meet you where you are. No fancy tools or DNA kits required to begin.

No. In fact, we teach you how to work around the confusion many DNA tests bring — especially for Black Americans who were reclassified or mislabeled. Paper records and oral history go a long way.

Trace Thy Roots was built specifically for Black Americans. We focus on real records, not myths — and we use AI to help restore what was erased. This isn’t ancestry entertainment. This is lineage restoration.

Just internet access, curiosity, and a willingness to see your family in a new light. Everything else — tools, downloads, and instructions — is included.

The courses are fully self-paced so you can go at your own rhythm. Whether you have 20 minutes or 2 hours a week, it’s designed to fit into your life.

While anyone is welcome, the curriculum centers the Black American experience — especially descendants of the reclassified, the renamed, and the erased. If that’s not your background, we still invite you to learn respectfully.

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