The "René Grandjean Séance Registers" are 35 volumes owned by the University of New Orleans, thousands of pages of handwritten notes in French, about the experiences and beliefs of a group of free people of color from 1858 to 1877 - in other words, from before the Civil War, through Reconstruction, and into the beginnings of the Jim Crow Era; obviously this is a potentially fascinating primary document, but one which is a bit hard to access for the average student, to say the least. Thankfully Daggett has written a wonderful description and analysis of these notebooks.

Specifically, the registers are transcriptions of seance sessions and what the various ghosts, mystical entities, and spirit guides had to say. You don't need to believe in Spiritualism to take this book seriously; Daggett uses these supernatural messages as a way of getting at what Henry Louis Rey (the leader and medium) and his social circle cared about, worried over, and wanted. The spirits included practically everyone, from dead relatives and spouses to international heroes like John Brown (of Harpers Ferry), Toussaint Louverture, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Pocahontas occasionally gave her opinion, as did Père Chalon, a local priest who showed up after his death to complain that his successor charged too much money to perform marriages. My particular favorite was when deceased political enemies of Rey and his friends would appear to confess the error of their ways and beg forgiveness, as did Pierre Soulé, the former Confederate provost marshal of New Orleans: "I used to be the friend of the oppressed, my heart beat for Liberty, but soon pride and ambition took over, I forgot my sacred aspirations and I loved the lamb of gold. I sacrificed my republicanism on the altar of slavery. Forgive me, forgive me! Brothers!" That had to feel good.

The seance transcriptions are cool enough, but Daggett surrounds them with research on Rey's world, which is just incredible. Rey and his friends served in the army (both for the Confederacy and the Union), ran a school for orphans of color that had such a highly politicized curriculum that historians have nicknamed it the "nursery school for revolution in Louisiana", were associated with Oscar James Dunn (America's first black lieutenant governor, who may have been poisoned at the height of his political power), and helped organize Plessy vs Ferguson (the Supreme Court case which they unfortunately lost when the court decided to endorse "separate but equal", thus providing the legal framework for Jim Crow), among other events. It's quite the life.

<i>Spiritualism in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans</i> isn't a perfect book; the writing gets dry at times, particularly in the second half, and the seance registers eventually trail off without neat resolution, which is frustrating though hardly Daggett's fault. Overall it's an excellent microhistory of a compelling slice of American history.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2431420022

Melissa Dagget and the University Press of Mississippi have put together what is probably one of the most detailed biographies on a civil rights activist, author, Reconstruction leader, and spiritualist. While the title is a bit misleading if you're looking for a book on Spiritualism as a whole, this biography quickly fills in the disappoinment with fascinating details about the life of people of color during this time period in New Orleans. Creoles of color were some of the most influential people in the creation of the New Orleans we know today, but most of the time the history books choose to focus on the crime stories of New Orleans and not the fascinating world of spirit and religious belief that influenced countless people at this time.

Spiritualism in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans: The Life and Times of Henry Louis Rey is most certainly a scholarly book, which makes this book not a quick read on late Sunday afternoon. Be prepared to read about the world of nineteenth-century politics, mixed with racism. Also, be prepared for the interesting triumphs and tragedies of Henry Louis Rey as the world of the supernatural and mediumship became one of the things his family became known for.

Spiritualism in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans: The Life and Times of Henry Louis Rey is now available from the University of Mississippi Press.

Hard to follow all the names. Not sure why the history of the Civil War was relevant spiritualism. Didn't finish.

I received a free electronic copy of this biography from Netgalley, Melissa Daggett, and University Press of Mississippi in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all, for sharing your hard work with me.

This is a book that will go on my research shelf and will be read again at my leisure. Melissa Daggett does a wonderful job of bringing us to the table on New Orleans history involving American Spiritualism, Reconstruction, and the impact of Afro-Creole free blacks in education and integration from 1860 through World War I. There is a bit of back and forth that I at first found confusing but the information is all there to make a complete circle of racial, educational and financial oppression from the passing of the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution of the United States in 1865 to the passing of the Louisiana Separate Car Act on July 10, 1890.

I enjoyed the look into American Spiritualism, and especially into the lifetime contributions of Henry Louis Rey. I loved watching New Orleans grow, and become the belle of the south that she will always be. New Orleans is definitely a fully integrated state of mind. Long may she live and prosper.