In the Introduction, McLaurin reminds us that although history tends to focus on the stories of “great men and women,” we can learn much from the “lives of lesser figures,” such as Celia, “a slave who lived and died in Callaway County, Missouri” (ix).  McLaurin also reflects on the limitations of such an approach to history, noting that the record of Celia’s life is, “like that of most lives judged inconsequential, […] incomplete,” and, consequently, “the significance of [her] story rests in large part upon the manner in which others responded to her” (x).  He notes that while Celia’s trial cannot tell us much about some aspects of slavery, it does help us see more clearly and concretely the “moral dilemmas that [slavery] produced” (x). 

Chapter One, called “Beginnings,” provides background knowledge about Robert Newsom, who was Celia’s owner, and John Jameson, her attorney, as well as about the town of Fulton, the county seat of Callaway County, Missouri.  Both Newsom and Jameson made their modest fortunes as early settlers to the young state of Missouri, Newsom emigrating from Virginia with his wife and two children between 1819 and 1822, and Jameson from Kentucky in 1825.  Newsom made his living as a farmer, and Jameson practiced law, served in the House of Representatives, and was later ordained as a minister.