From Emmy & Peabody Award-Winning Journalist, And Based On True Events, The Unlikely Alliance Between A Young Slave, Her Mistress, & A Socialite – And Their Trailblazing Trial For Freedom In The Antebellum South
– Chariot On The Mountain By Jack Ford
On Sale July 31, 2018
Chariot on the Mountain, a novel based on one of the most remarkable court cases in American history – a trial largely forgotten until now, as it is brought vividly to life by Emmy and Peabody award-winning journalist Jack Ford. Part adventure tale and part courtroom drama, Chariot on the Mountain is an astonishing account of the unlikely alliance between three extraordinary women – a young slave, her mistress, and the daughter of a wealthy land owner – their heroic and dangerous struggle against the shackles of slavery in the Old South, and the trailblazing court case they undertook.
A former trial attorney who became prominent as a legal journalist and American news personality while covering the OJ Simpson trial, Jack Ford has a penchant for legal history. He teaches seminars on famous trials at Yale, NYU and the University of Virginia, and yet it was not until he literally stumbled across a plaque on the lawn of an 1830’s courthouse in a small Virginia village that he unearthed the phenomenal case of “Kitty vs. Samuel Maddox.” Through this case, a young slave woman named Kitty was granted her freedom in 1846 – almost 15 years before the Civil War. This legal triumph was so seemingly impossible for its time that Jack Ford became determined to uncover the details behind it.
Buried in hand-written court records, local newspapers over 150 years old, letters, and descendants’ personal recollections, Jack Ford found the story that became Chariot on the Mountain. It is the story of Kitty, a slave who escapes along the Underground Railroad, only to be dragged back to Virginia by a gang of slave-catchers determined to sell her and her children. It is the story of her extremely unlikely allies – her former mistress and the privileged daughter of the largest plantation owner in the county – who helped Kitty triumph in one of the most sensational trials of the century. An astonishing account of a time when the traditions of the Old South still thrived, Chariot on the Mountain is the fascinating story of three strong and disparate women who reject the divisions of their time and bond together to do what’s right.
For review copies, interview requests or other publicity queries, please contact:
Lulu Martinez / 212.407.1541/ lmartinez@kensingtonbooks.com
THE MEANING OF CHARIOT ON THE MOUNTAIN
The title Chariot on the Mountain comes from a lyric in a Negro spiritual song titled “Great Day.” Negro spirituals were created and adapted over the years by African American slaves on plantations in the American South. The songs are rooted in African culture’s emphasis on music and movement in worship and draw on the gospels of Christianity. In the 1700s, Negro spirituals were sung in rural areas, often completely separate from church, at gatherings called “brush arbor meetings” or “camp meetings.” These gatherings were lively, with shouting, hand-clapping, and feet stomping, so much so that many were banned by slave owners and had to be conducted in secret. Negro spirituals often held dual meanings. The songs served as vessels of hope that were framed through Christian messages. While on one level they referred to teachings of the Bible, certain words or phrases were loaded with references to the Underground Railroad. For example, the “chariot” of the song and the book’s title was a common reference to the Underground Railroad as a method to obtain literal freedom (alongside its use in song referring to the metaphorical salvation of Heaven). Harriet Tubman, the famous Underground Railroad conductor, used spirituals as code to alert slaves in the area who might want her help to escape. While many spirituals were considered “sorrow songs,” songs of celebration like “Great Day” spoke of a future of freedom and a time when all would be well, and would be considered “jubilees” or “camp meeting songs.” “Great Day” first appeared in printed music hymnals around 1920, but its exact origin, while almost certainly pre-1865, is difficult to place. An excerpt from “Great Day” appears at the end of Chariot on the Mountain.
Jack Ford Author of Chariot On The Mountain 