Two Faces of Dixie reflects the reality....

 

On one side of the cover of "Two Fac es of Dixie" is a hoto of a Southern belle in hoop skirt, with sun hat and fan.  (it's actually Katie Stewart-who offers historical tours of Southport in period costume). 

 

On the other side are two other photos:  One from the 1800s, showing two employees from Kendall Plantation in Brunswick County; theother, showing an antebellum slave pen in Virginia.

 

They represent the wo poles of plantation life, according to Brunswick County author J. Chirsty Judah, who wrote and self-published "Two Faces."  Now on sale at $28.95, it's available at most Brunswick County bookstores and through Amazon.com

 

"This was a natural progression from my last book, 'Legends of Brunswick County,'" which came out last year, Judah said.  "I wanted to find out more about the plantations," she said, "which turned out to be harder than I thought.  Of course, any size farm back then was a 'plantation.'"

 

To find out more, she combed through old wills, deeds, and other surviving documents at the Brunswick County Courthouse, old newspapers, plus letters and other accounts in local archives.

 

In part, then, "Two Faces" is an index of the known plantation operations in Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties, with a little history and genealogy about each.  (The town of Winnabow, for example, took its name frm Winnabow Plantation, birthplace of gov. Daniel L. Russell.)

 

"But then I wanted to find out about who was living on the plantations," Judah said.  "The planters were part of the answer.  But what about the rest of the people?"

 

Which led Judah back into th court records, as wella s to interviews with surviving ex-slaves conducted by the Federal Writers' Project in the 1930s.  Judah also did a little oral history of her own with such Brunswick County residents as 101-year old Harvey Robinson of Supply, who talked about his parents' and grandparents' memories.

 

Shocking Facts

 

The retired teacher and guidance counselor wa shocked by what she found.  "I mean, a slave would be punished by havinghis ear nailed to a post, having to stand there for an hour, then having the ear cut off, then having his other ear nailed to the same post."  Judah saidher aim in "Two Faces" isn't to argue an agenda, just to present facts.  "I think if people keep their ears, eyes and heart open, and lsiten to each other without judgment, we can begin to grow."