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Featured Excerpt: Pieces of the Quilt: The Mosaic of An African American Family, by Anita Wills The Life of Leah Ruth-Warner

Anita Wills' second book, Pieces of the Quilt: The Mosaic of An African American Family is a Non-Fiction Narrative of African American History. It is available through Amazon.com, and will soon be available at retail stores, Alibris and Books in Print. The book is written from a Historical and Genealogical perspective, and weaves together the lives and times of Ms. Wills ancestors. Ms. Wills who has graciously allowed us to publish this excerpt. One of the ancestors chronicled in Pieces of the Quilt, is Wills' Great-Great Grandmother Leah Ruth-Warner, who was born in Guinea West Africa, in 1818. She was kidnapped and enslaved in 1830, by Dutch Traders (according to her oral testimony). She stated that they were taken five miles down the coast and held on a Dutch Ship. The year was 1830 and selling African Slaves was against the law. The traders got around the law by taking their cargo to Bermuda to be seasoned. Leah and the others were eventually taken to South Carolina and sold. Leah was purchased by Robert Ruth of Beaufort District South Carolina. He was not a large Plantation owner, and had no more than seven slaves. By the 1850 most of the slaves he owned belonged to Leah. She had several children by him, and by her husband Jack Warner. When Leah became hard to handle, she was sold away from her children, to Hilton Head SC. Her son Samuel (Anita Wills' Great Grandfather), never forgot the image of his mother on the Auction Block. You may read the rest of the excerpt on our new website Afriquest (www.afriquest.com). The USF Africana Heritage Project is Sponsored by the Africana Studies Department at the University of South Florida. Copyright 2008 The University of South Florida and The Africana Heritage Project. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. For more information, contact the Africana Heritage Project via e-mail .