The Secret Trust of Aspasia Cruvellier Mirault

Janice L. Sumler-Edmond has traced the life of Aspasia Cruvellier Mirault, a widowed matriarch, who navigated the social, economic and political complexities of her time to leave a legacy for her family. In 1842 she entered into a secret trust with a white man whose help she needed to become a landowner. The outcome of this trust arrangement was finally determined by a three-party trial that went to the Georgia Supreme Court in 1878.

Sumler-Edmond’s book provides new perspectives on the African-American experience and on American history while resurrecting the life and times of this woman, who until now was lost to historical memory.