Sold Down The River

About the Book

What lives beneath a name passed down through generations? In Sold Down The River: The Slave Master’s Family – A True Story of Survival After Slavery, Leon Purvis journeys into the layered history of his own bloodline— where memory, silence, and truth converge. What he uncovers is not a single story, but a tapestry woven from land, power, and the lives of those bound within it. From the riverbanks of colonial Virginia to the fields of the American South, this narrative traces the lives of enslaved women and the children who carried both inheritance and burden. Their voices echo through time—sometimes recorded, often remembered—shaping a legacy marked by contradiction and resilience. This is not just a story of the past. It is a reckoning with identity, with what is inherited and what is reclaimed. In confronting the shadows of history, this book offers something enduring: the quiet strength of those who survived, and the truth that refuses to remain hidden.

About the Author

Leon Purvis is a free-lance writer and student of history. He researches family genealogy with the intent of revealing the hidden history of African American people. He is a retired Air Force Colonel with 28 years of active-duty service and has degrees in Architectural Engineering, Public Administration and Strategic Studies. He has traveled extensively throughout the United States and the world and has a passion for learning history as it relates to social justice and community service. He lived in eight states in the USA and traveled to 20 different countries managing major construction projects in the middle east and Germany. He commanded large Base Civil Engineering units and managed facility operations and maintenance. He is a skilled communicator and technical writer and has authored large complex construction documents. He is amid a third career pursuing a passion as an author, researcher, writer and community servant. He uses analytical skills, and various communication means to serve the public good.