In Almost Free, Eva Sheppard Wolf uses the story of Samuel Johnson, a free black man from Virginia attempting to free his family, to add detail and depth to our understanding of the lives of free blacks in the South.

Explores why Shedrick Thompson, a black tenant farmer in Northern Virginia, beat a white landowner unconscious and kidnapped his wife. Two months after the event, his decomposed body was found hanging from a tree -- a death that was officially pronounced a suicide, but was more commonly known as the last lynching in Virginia.

"Documents include administrators, estate, executors and guardian accounts, wills, inventory and appraisals. Entries list each slave owner, followed by the page number, date and type of document. The list of slaves follows and the new owner is listed if known. Surnames of the owner's children are indexed only if noted in the document. First names have been standardized in order to make it easier to search for a name. Includes full-name index"--Back...