The Devil’s Half Acre: The Untold Story of How One Woman Liberated the South’s Most Notorious Slave Jail 

by Kristen Green
@kgreen

The inspiring true story of a enslaved woman who liberated an infamous slave jail and transformed it into one of the nation’s first HBCUs 

In The Devil’s Half Acre, New York Times bestselling author Kristen Green draws on years of research to tell the extraordinary and little-known story of young Mary Lumpkin, an enslaved woman who blazed a path of liberation for thousands. She was forced to have the children of a brutal slave trader and live on the premises of his slave jail, known as the “Devil’s Half Acre.” When she inherited the jail after the death of her slaveholder, she transformed it into “God’s Half Acre,” a school where Black men could fulfill their dreams. It still exists today as Virginia Union University, one of America’s first Historically Black Colleges and Universities. 

Interview with the Author

History Extra 
How one woman liberated a notorious US slave jail
8/19/22          36 min

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Virginia Museum of History & Culture 
The Devil’s Half Acre: Book Talk and Discussion with Kristen Green and Dr. Carolivia Herron
9/20/22         65 min

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