Born to black slaves in 1836; H. C. Bruce took the name of his master; a farmer in Prince Edward County; Virginia. After years of slaving on the plantation in Missouri and working in tobacco factories; Bruce escaped to freedom in Kansas with his future wife. In the 1880s; he moved to the District of Columbia to take a federal job arranged by his brother; Blanche K. Bruce; a senator from Mississippi. The New Man is unusual in its double perspective: for Bruce’s life was split by servitude and freedom; and his experience gave heightened meaning to both. Bruce provides insights into the slave’s attitudes toward his masters and toward poor white people. He believes that “good blood†(a sense of honor and duty and domestic virtues) will tell; no matter the race; but he appeals to fairness in assessing the situation of emancipated slaves at the end of the Civil War: "They were set free without a dollar; without a foot of land; and without the wherewithal to get the next meal even; and this too by a great Christian Nation."
#4261582 in Books University of Nebraska Press 2010-01-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .78 x 5.98l; 1.13 #File Name: 0803232705352 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Almost Nothing New. One-Sided. No Mediation in This Book. Not Helpful to Polish-Jewish RelationsBy Jan PeczkisI picked up this book expecting; as the title had claimed; a theme related to the mediation of Polish-Jewish relations. It does not do this. It does not even present both points of view. It is largely a repetition of various accusations against Poland (for example; the claims of Jan T. Gross on Jedwabne). The authors of this anthology who depart the most from objectivity; are Joanna B. Michlic; Joanna Baumann; Ewa Plonowska Ziarek; Joanna Tokarska-Bakir; and Dorota Glowacka.Want something better? The reader who is genuinely interested in mediating Polish-Jewish relations; in light of the legacy of the Holocaust; and from a Jewish viewpoint; should instead read Ludwik Hirszfeld: The Story of One Life (Rochester Studies in Medical History).3 of 7 people found the following review helpful. No Mediation. Not Helpful to Polish-Jewish RelationsBy Jan PeczkisWARNING: Cultural MarxismUWAGA: Kulturowe MarksizmThe reader will find little that is new in this anthology. I picked up this book expecting; as the title had claimed; a theme related to the mediation of Polish-Jewish relations. It does not do this. It does not even present both points of view. It is largely a repetition of the claims of Jan T. Gross on Jedwabne. The authors of this anthology; who depart the most from objectivity; are Joanna B. Michlic; Joanna Baumann; Ewa Plonowska Ziarek; Joanna Tokarska-Bakir; and Dorota Glowacka.Want something better? The reader who is genuinely interested in mediating Polish-Jewish relations; in light of the legacy of the Holocaust; should instead read Ludwik Hirszfeld: The Story of One Life (Rochester Studies in Medical History). The author was a Polish Jew and intellectual; and he had often found himself on both sides of the issues that have divided Poles and Jews.
