Explore the Latest Work by Larry McCluney Jr.

The American South, a region steeped in the history of slavery, is often associated with a rigid social hierarchy defined by race and power. White slaveholders, at the apex of this hierarchy, exerted absolute control over the lives of enslaved Africans. But within this seemingly monolithic system, a complex and often overlooked phenomenon existed: Free Black slaveholders. These individuals, free by birth or through emancipation, owned and controlled enslaved people, defying the seemingly simple categorization of the South as a society divided solely between White masters and enslaved Africans.

The existence of free Black slaveholders challenges our conventional understandings of the antebellum South. It prompts us to question the rigidity of the racial hierarchy, to consider the multifaceted nature of freedom, and to recognize the complexities of power dynamics within a system built on the foundation of forced labor.

This book delves into the little-known history of Free Black slaveholders, exploring the social, economic, and legal factors that shaped their lives and experiences. It examines their motivations, their relationships with both the White slaveholding class and the enslaved population, and the impact of their status as slaveholders on their lives, their acceptance within the community, and their place in the social hierarchy after the Civil War.

Drawing on archival research and primary sources, the book sheds light on a nuanced and often overlooked aspect of American history, challenging conventional narratives and providing a more complete understanding of the complexities of race, power, and freedom in the United States. It aims to tell the story of these individuals, their choices, their struggles, and their legacies, in order to provide a richer, and more accurate, understanding of the American past.

Review by Donnie Kennedy, co-writer of The South Was Right, and 78th Commander-in-Chief of the SCV


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About the Author 

Larry Allen McCluney, Jr., is an Instructor of American History at Mississippi Delta Community College and an American Civil War Living Historian since 1995. Based in Greenwood, Mississippi, he is the author of numerous bestselling books which have been the topic of historical debate among students and historians. Additionally, McCluney is currently a member of the nonprofit organization Sons of Confederate Veterans for over 29 years and currently serves as the 76th Past Commander-in-Chief of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He is also a former Chairman of the Combined Boards that oversees Beauvoir, the last home of the only President of the Confederate States of America. Beauvoir, which is in Biloxi, Mississippi, served as a seaside retirement estate of Jefferson Davis and his family.

McCluney received his bachelors’ and masters’ degree in history at Mississippi State University. Previously, he served as a Golden Triangle Civil War Round Table member and has taught in the Mississippi public school system for overpast thirty-two years on the secondary education level and over twenty-eight years on the community college level before retiring. McCluney’s publications have focused on political, intellectual, and social history of the American Civil War and Southern History. His bestselling books are The Yazoo Pass Expedition: A Union Thrust into the Delta (Civil War Series) (2017) (ranked bestseller in Military Pictorial History, Reconstruction History of the U.S., and U.S. Civil War Confederate History), On to Vicksburg!: The Mississippi Central Railroad Campaign (2019), In Defense of General Beauregard (2022), and his latest book Paradox of Freedom (2025).

McCluney has received many awards for historical preservation from the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy as well as numerous other awards as an educator. He was also chosen as the Mississippi’s top American History teacher in 2014 by the Daughters of the American Revolution and was chosen for Who’s Who Among America’s Top Teachers on numerous occasions.

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