This fascinating story of Amanda America Dickson, born the privileged daughter of a white planter and an unconsenting slave in antebellum Georgia, shows how strong-willed individuals defied racial strictures for the sake of family. Kent Anderson Leslie uses the events of Dickson's life to explore the forces driving southern race and gender relations from the days of King Cotton through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and New South eras.Although legally a slave herself well into her adolescence, Dickson was much favored by her father and lived comfortably in his house, receiving a genteel upbringing and education. After her father died in 1885 Dickson inherited most of his half-million dollar estate, sparking off two years of legal battles with white relatives. When the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the will, Dickson became the largest landowner in Hancock County, Georgia, and the wealthiest black woman in the post-Civil War South.Kent Anderson Leslie's portrayal of Dickson is enhanced by a wealth of details about plantation life; the elaborate codes of behavior for men and women, blacks and whites in the South; and the equally complicated circumstances under which racial transgressions were sometimes ignored, tolerated, or even accepted.Publishers WeeklyAmanda was the daughter of a 13-year-old Georgia slave who was raped by David Dickson, the white plantation owner in whose household she worked. Although legally a slave until 1864, Amanda was raised in luxury by Dickson and his mother. Leslie's outstanding scholarly detective work illuminates issues of race and class in the life of a woman who escaped the limits of both. After her marriage to a white man failed, Amanda returned with her two children to live with Dickson until his death in 1885. He bequeathed most of his fortune to her, angering his white relations, who contested the will. Despite the legal and social sanctions against interracial families in the post-Civil War South, the court upheld Dickson's will. Leslie, assistant professor of women's studies at Oglethorpe University, relates that Amanda purchased a luxurious home in Augusta and, before her death, was married briefly to Nathan Toomer, father of African American writer Jean Toomer. Excellent social history. Illustrations not seen by PW. (May)