"Everyone who has studied Mark Twain's life has been beguiled by George Griffin, his talented, handsome, and ever resourceful Black butler. But until now we have had to settle for a shadowy figure, mostly known from a handful of anecdotes. Against all odds, Kevin Mac Donnell has delivered a full-dress biography that narrates the story of George Griffin with the sensitivity, compassion, and insight he so richly deserves. The appearance of Mark Twain's Black Muse is a cause for celebration, lifting the curtain on a remarkable personality veiled in mystery for far too long." ~ Ron Chernow, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Alexander Hamilton (the basis for the award-winning Broadway musical, Hamilton), Grant, and Mark Twain

The first comprehensive biography of the former slave who became the inspiration for a literary icon

Mark Twain's butler George Griffin has long been recognized as a model for Jim, the runaway slave in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Griffin's years with Twain's family in Hartford are well documented, but until now his earlier and later years have been terra incognita. Drawing upon newly discovered photographic evidence and documents, this first full biography of Griffin reconstructs his childhood as a slave in Maryland, his time as a Union general's body servant during the Civil War, his postwar education as a servant, his 17 years working for Twain, and his final years, when he became acquainted with New York high society (including two presidents and a multimillionaire media magnate), started a family, and accumulated wealth as a private banker and gambler. Griffin's story is a dramatic tale of triumphs and tragedies, and even contains some Zelig-like moments when he was an eye-witness to key Civil War battles (and may have even met Abraham Lincoln) and later lived next door to Harriet Beecher Stowe. Like Mark Twain, Griffin was a self-educated and self-made man whose remarkable story can now finally be told. It is a story that illuminates much of the Black experience in America.