Faulkner, Slavery, and the University of Mississippi

Through an examination of the existing records of slaves once held at Faulkner’s Rowan Oak, contributor W. Ralph Eubanks explores the connection between these slaves who helped build the University of Mississippi and Faulkner’s fiction, as well as a new narrative that is evolving about Faulkner, slavery, and the University of Mississippi. Further, the essay evokes questions about how Faulkner constructed the relationship between Charles Bon and Henry Sutpen in Absalom, Absalom!, a relationship that has the University of Mississippi as a backdrop. Whether or not Faulkner had knowledge of the connections between the University of Mississippi and slavery, this new narrative twist makes us look at this relationship—as well as its historical context—in a new light.