by Tiya Miles
First published 2010
Tiya Miles reconstructs the complete history of Diamond Hill, the plantation that Cherokee chief and businessman James Vann created in Georgia during the early 1800s. This study traces the property from its establishment as the most celebrated plantation in the southeastern Cherokee Nation through its period of prosperity, its seizure by white lottery winners before Cherokee Removal, its subsequent decline, and its restoration in the 1950s. Miles examines the diverse groups who lived and worked within Diamond Hill's boundaries. She documents the experiences of wealthy Cherokee plantation owners, Cherokee farmers practicing subsistence agriculture, enslaved people from different ethnic origins, free blacks from northern and southern states, German-speaking Moravian missionaries, and white craftsmen from the South. The author pays particular attention to women from all these communities. Through extensive research and clear prose, Miles reveals the complex dynamics of gender, social class, and interracial relations on the southern frontier.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century, african-american-historical-fiction, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-fiction, interracial-relations
Setting: Diamond Hill, Georgia, Southeastern Cherokee Nation
Period: Early 1800s
336 pages · Kindle Edition · University of North Carolina Press
Content warnings: racism, slavery