The diary, letters, and business records of an ex-slave reveal his personal thoughts concerning the social, political, and economic conditions of the antebellum South.

The discovery in 1938 of the diary and personal papers of William Johnson (ca. 1809-1851), a free Negro of Natchez, Mississippi, made possible the publication of this fascinating volume. Johnson's diary offers a firsthand account of a former slave who rose from harsh circumstances to become a successful businessman. It is also an intimate portrait of life and social relations in a southern town in the years leading up to the Civil War.