Scarlett: Slavery’s Enduring Legacy in an American Family

In this edifying family history, Stainton (Staging Ground), a descendant of the Scarlett family of Georgia, examines the myths that evolved to mask the cruelty of slavery. Stainton grew up on stories about grateful servants, handsome beaus, blushing belles, fancy balls, and the unfairness of families like the Scarletts that were “good” to their slaves losing their fortunes after the Civil War. But the truth emerges as Stainton delves into the lives of her Georgia ancestors, comparing them along the way with fictitious Gone With the Wind heroine Scarlett O’Hara (who in the novel is a Scarlett on her mother’s side) and real-life heroine Fanny Kemble, a celebrated British actor who married a prominent Georgia slaveowner and published a scathing insider account of plantation life. Kemble’s diaries, among other sources, spotlight how enslaved people feigned loyalty to survive, while white masters “pretended their enslaved workers were contented” and white women “pretended the mixed-race children” on their plantations “had no connection to their husbands.” Stainton writes that “these fictions masked powerful emotions: for African Americans, rage, terror, and shame; for white Americans, fear and shame,” and she paints the Civil War as the boiling point when these emotions were unmasked. Throughout, Stainton keeps up a tangent on her research journey, including a trip to a Gone with the Wind convention. Such personal moments pull readers gracefully along this deep dive into a grim history. (Nov.)