The Vice President's Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn

by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers

Overview

Award-winning historian Amrita Chakrabarti Myers has recovered the riveting, troubling, and complicated story of Julia Ann Chinn (ca. 1796–1833), the enslaved wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, owner of Blue Spring Farm, veteran of the War of 1812, and US vice president under Martin Van Buren. Johnson never freed Chinn, but during his frequent absences from his estate, he delegated to her the management of his property, including Choctaw Academy, a boarding school for Indigenous men and boys on the grounds of the estate. This meant that Chinn, although enslaved herself, oversaw Blue Spring's slave labor force and had substantial control over economic, social, financial, and personal affairs within the couple's world. Chinn's relationship with Johnson was unlikely to have been consensual since she was never manumitted.

What makes Chinn's life exceptional is the power that Johnson invested in her, the opportunities the couple's relationship afforded her and her daughters, and their community's tacit acceptance of the family—up to a point. When the family left their farm, they faced steep limits: pews at the rear of the church, burial in separate graveyards, exclusion from town dances, and more. Johnson's relationship with Chinn ruined his political career and Myers compellingly demonstrates that it wasn't interracial sex that led to his downfall but his refusal to keep it—and Julia Chinn—behind closed doors.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469675237
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	10/10/2023
Series:	A Ferris and Ferris Book
Pages:	296
Sales rank:	114,356
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Amrita Chakrabarti Myers is the Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor of History and gender studies at Indiana University Bloomington. She is the author of Forging Freedom: Black Women and the Pursuit of Liberty in Antebellum Charleston.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

A brilliant and important work of historical recovery—deeply researched and elegantly written. In Myers's skillful hands, the previously unknown story of Julia Chinn comes to life. This book powerfully illuminates the complexities of race, gender, and politics in American history."—Keisha N. Blain, coeditor of Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019



In this engrossing book, Myers sheds light on an open secret in US history, the relationship between Vice President Richard Mentor Johnson and his enslaved wife, Julia Chinn. Meticulously researched and powerfully narrated, Myers's work carefully unearths the ghosts of our interracial past that continue to haunt us today."—Manisha Sinha, author of The Slave's Cause: A History of Abolition



Myers has told the most American of stories about an American family whose members walk the lines of demarcation that govern American life. Her irresistible narrative traces the edges of slavery, Blackness, whiteness, safety, public life, sex, marriage, wealth, and power itself. That this story has a Black woman in Kentucky at its center is irrefutable evidence for the inescapable imprint of so-called marginal people on our national heritage."—Anastasia C. Curwood, author of Shirley Chisholm: Champion of Black Feminist Power Politics



A riveting and dramatic narrative, almost novelistic in quality. Mining skeletal sources and conducting meticulous research, Myers constructs a compelling account of the yearslong relationship between Richard Mentor Johnson (a white slaveholder) and Julia Chinn (the Black woman who was his property). Capturing with nuance the blurry tensions between slavery and freedom, gender and power, public and private, Myers gives flesh and substance to a story long erased from the historical record. In the process, she illuminates the disdainful national attitudes toward Black women both during and after slavery, as well as the tangled genealogies constituting the 'American family.'"—Deborah E. McDowell, Alice Griffin Professor of English, University of Virginia

Editorial Reviews

08/28/2023

Historian Myers (Forging Freedom) delivers an illuminating account of the life of Julia Chinn, the Black wife of Martin Van Buren’s vice president Richard Mentor Johnson. Born sometime between 1790 and 1797, Chinn was originally enslaved by Johnson’s parents in Virginia; at 14 she was moved into Johnson’s plantation home in Kentucky as a housekeeper. Although Julia remained enslaved until her death, she and Richard reportedly were married by a preacher. Richard referred to Julia as his wife and acknowledged the paternity of their two daughters, Imogene and Adaline; he paid for the girls’ education and introduced them to colleagues. His attempts to move his relationship with Julia into the open, including gifts of property to their daughters, eventually cost him friendships, social status, and his presidential ambitions. However, as Myers writes, this “isn’t a romance novel.” Johnson enslaved more than 100 people, routinely had them beaten and sold South, and engaged in coercive sex with other women he viewed as his property. During his long absences, Chinn administered the estate, Myers notes, making her “complicit” in exchange for “upward social mobility” for her descendants, who by the 1850s were living as white people. Through interviews with descendants and archival research, Myers painstakingly pieces together this long-hidden history. The result is a revealing exploration of the intersection of race, gender, power, and property in 18th-century America. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

The [fascinating] story of a remarkable woman who experienced freedom and slavery simultaneously . . . . Myers has conducted arduous research, and she ably introduces a little-known yet important figure in American history . . . . A valuable addition to antebellum history."—Kirkus Reviews



Illuminating . . . . Myers painstakingly pieces together this long-hidden history. The result is a revealing exploration of the intersection of race, gender, power, and property in 18th-century America."—Publishers Weekly



This book not only focuses on Chinn, but it also presents a complex, contested view of the social and moral ecology of the antebellum South and the nation. Myers extends that story to discuss current racial issues."—Library Journal



Myers carefully stitches together the story of Julia Ann Chinn, the enslaved wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, Martin Van Buren's vice president, recounting her life on his estate and the public controversy over their relationship."—New York Times Book Review



Groundbreaking . . . . A deeply researched and elegantly written biography, The Vice President's Black Wife investigates Chinn's life at home and within her community to explore how she navigated the racial and social hierarchies of the 19th century."—Ms. Magazine



[An] impressive biography . . . . an excellent primer for scholars, teachers, and undergraduates interested in the history of mixed-race families and for understanding how enslavers treated Black men and women as both kin and property."—CHOICE

From the Publisher

09/22/2023

Myers's (history and gender studies, Indiana Univ.; Forging Freedom: Black Women and the Pursuit of Liberty in Antebellum Charleston) biography of Julia Chinn (1790–1833) is the story of her lifelong, likely nonconsensual relationship with her enslaver, Richard Mentor Johnson, a powerful Kentucky politician who eventually served as the U.S. vice president after her death and during the administration of Martin Van Buren's 1837–41 term. The book portrays Johnson as viewing Chinn as his common-law wife, although he never gave Chinn her freedom. Records show the two apparently exchanged "vows" before a Baptist preacher. Chinn gave birth to two daughters, who were well educated and who both married white men. Johnson entrusted Chinn to manage his extensive farm enterprises and school for Indigenous peoples in Scott County, KY, while he was in Washington fulfilling his congressional duties. Johnson's relationship with Chinn was an issue for his family and his political campaigns. VERDICT This book not only focuses on Chinn, but it also presents a complex, contested view of the social and moral ecology of the antebellum South and the nation. Myers extends that story to discuss current racial issues.—Glen Edward Taul

Library Journal

2023-07-13
The story of a remarkable woman who experienced freedom and slavery simultaneously.

Myers, a professor of history and gender studies, presents the fascinating story of enslaved mixed-race woman Julia Ann Chinn (c. 1790-1833), who was publicly married to prominent Kentucky politician and decorated War of 1812 veteran Richard Mentor Johnson, who served as vice president in Martin Van Buren’s administration after Chinn's death. Myers details the bizarre arrangement that never saw Chinn freed and provided opportunities and obstacles alike for her and the two daughters she and Johnson shared. The author uses surviving papers and letters to detail how Johnson, due to extended absences that his political career necessitated, entrusted Chinn to manage his vast and bustling Blue Spring Farm near Georgetown, Kentucky. She also managed the federally funded Choctaw Academy boarding school on the farm’s land and served as hostess for glittering affairs in honor of the likes of the Marquis de Lafayette and James Monroe. Myers delves into the complicated social consequences that the Johnson family faced in matters concerning the local Great Crossing Baptist Church, town functions, and even the graveyard. She discusses how Johnson's relationship with Chinn—and his refusal to keep it under wraps, as did contemporaries in similar situations—greatly damaged him politically despite his service in Congress. Myers acknowledges that researching this book was often frustrating and led to dead ends, yet too often she employs what she calls "informed speculation" concerning the mindsets and motivations of individuals that simply cannot be known. Informed speculation is still speculation, and readers should be trusted to render their own questions or conclusions. Still, Myers has conducted arduous research, and she ably introduces a little-known yet important figure in American history, creating a welcome story of “passing, history, and memory that reveals how we all…continue to feel the effects of slavery.”

A valuable addition to antebellum history.

Kirkus Reviews