Author and historian Greg Olson discusses his new book The Amazing Life of Jeffrey Deroine: Enslaved Trader, Prairie Diplomat, and Missouri Settler. He examines how Deroine (de-rō-NAY) embodied the complexity of pre-Civil War Missouri and defied expectations and stereotypes of enslaved people in the early 19th century.

Born in St. Louis in 1806, Deroine was of French and African descent and spent much of his life among Indigenous people as an enslaved trader. After purchasing his freedom, he became an interpreter, businessman, and property owner, as well as an enslaver of others. Deroine also participated in the early settlement and founding of the frontier city of St. Joseph, Missouri.

Olson suggests that though largely overlooked in the historical record, Deroine’s story is significant for illustrating the nuanced intersectionality of lives on the American frontier and provides a better understanding of the history Missouri and the West.

For more than three decades, Olson has worked with Indigenous tribes to tell stories of Native presence in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. His 2023 book Indigenous Missourians received the Missouri Conference on History Book Award and the State Historical Society’s Missouri Book Award.