June 5

The Man Who Stole Himself: The Slave Odyssey of Hans Jonathan (2016)
By Gisli Palsson (translated by Anna Yates)

I sometimes get tired of books – both fiction and non-fiction – about great, famous people involved in the turning points of history, and ask myself why there are not so many books about regular people living their lives below the radar.  This book satisfies me in that regard, along with opening windows in my mind about seeing a part of history that has evaded my wandering reading over the years.  First of all, who ever gave a great deal of thought to slavery as a Danish issue, or even of Denmark as a colonial power?  It turns out that the Danes behaved a lot like the rest of Europe in this regard!  Second, I appreciated the account of Hans Jonathan as the slave of Danish colonialists who returned to live in Denmark, and wanted to be just an ordinary person.

He ran away to Iceland where it seems he was accepted for himself and lived a life where he was accepted for who he was as an equal in a tough society.  And third, I liked Palsson’s reflections on how people in our own generations have reacted to learning that their Icelandic ancestor was the son of a black slave woman and a white Colonial man.

Guest Blog by Dewey Christy  (Thanks, Dewey!)