Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery [Paperback]

Leon F. Litwack (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 1980

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award
Based on hitherto unexamined sources: interviews with ex-slaves, diaries and accounts by former slaveholders, this "rich and admirably written book" (Eugene Genovese, The New York Times Book Review) aims to show how, during the Civil War and after Emancipation, blacks and whites interacted in ways that dramatized not only their mutual dependency, but the ambiguities and tensions that had always been latent in "the peculiar institution."

Contents
1. "The Faithful Slave"
2. Black Liberators
3. Kingdom Comin'
4. Slaves No More
5. How Free is Free?
6. The Feel of Freedom: Moving About
7. Back to Work: The Old Compulsions
8. Back to Work: The New Dependency
9. The Gospel and the Primer
10. Becoming a People

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Litwack displays a keen sense of the revealing expression and incident; a controlled passion against injustice and cruelty; and a grasp--not always in evidence these days--of the elements of genuine tragedy in the black-white confrontation that has shaped southern history."--Eugene Genovese, The New York Times Book Review

"As a comprehensive study of the coming of freedom, Litwack's book has no rival."--C. Vann Woodward, The New York Review of Books

From the Publisher

"As a comprehensive study of the coming of freedom, Litwack's book has no rival."--C. Vann Woodward, The New York Review of Books

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 672 pages
• Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books ed edition (August 12, 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394743989
• ISBN-13: 978-0394743981
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.4 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable study of African Americans after emancipation, November 11, 2004

By 

Mark Klobas (Tempe, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery (Paperback)

Few populations in history have gone through the dramatic changes that African Americans underwent at the end of the Civil War. People who had suffered slavery for generations suddenly found themselves free, a welcome yet uncertain status that required considerable exploration and adjustment. Leon Litwack's book examines this transition, concentrating on how freed African Americans perceived freedom and how they shaped the conditions of their freedom in the aftermath of the Civil War.

For many African Americans, change began with the Civil War. Slaves in areas occupied by Union soldiers would be liberated from bondage, while many African Americans took up arms as the war went on. The end of the war and the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment meant freedom for African Americans, freedom to live their lives as they wanted. For most, the first step was finding their scattered families and coming to terms with their time as slaves. Freedom also meant discovering a new identity, especially with regards to their former masters, as African Americans now had to deal with whites in new ways both socially and in the workplace. Finally, African Americans faced the challenge of creating a new society free of the restrictions of slave life, which led to the establishment of modes of religion, politics, and the press to serve their particular interests.

Litwack's book is an indispensable study of African Americans in the aftermath of emancipation. Based on a wealth of primary sources (including the invaluable collection of oral interviews conducted by the Federal Writers' Project during the 1930s), he argues that no set experience defined how African Americans dealt with freedom. What emancipation demonstrated was the interdependence that existed between African Americans and whites, an interdependence that did not end with freedom but was shaped by attitudes and tensions that remained from the experience of slavery. The result is a book that is essential reading for any student of the era, as well as for those seeking insight into race relations in America today.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic work, February 8, 2006

By 

O. Pflug - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery (Paperback)

Anyone with a serious interest in the Civil War should read Been in the Storm So Long. Litwacks's work is more than just black history; it explores the principle cause and consequence of the war. Unlike many general histories that preceded it, "Been in the Storm" relies heavily on primary sources. War-era diaries and letters of whites, Union Army records, Freedman's bureau reports, and Depression-era interviews of former slaves and their children, provide most of the material. The outrage of southern whites who watched trusted slaves pick up and leave when freedom came, echoes throughout the book. So too does the uncertainty of the era. Some blacks may have dreamed big, but most just wanted freedom, security, and opportunity. Though some lasting gains were made, the struggle for full freedom would be much longer.
Certainly, "Been in the Storm" is the place to start for Emancipation reading. Though the coverage of early black politics was not as strong as in Eric Foner' Reconstruction, I know of no equal for the early social consequences of Emancipation.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book about slaves experiencing freedom, February 20, 2003

By 

Lynn Rubin (Little Neck, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery (Paperback)

This book is gives an excellent synthesis as to how freedom was experienced in various regions of the South after 1863. One of the finest books within the historiography of American slavery and freedom. Litwack goes to great lengths explaining the freedom experience, the failures of the Freedmen's Bureau and the hesitations ex-slaves felt after 1863. A must read and must have for anyone interested in slavery, its aftermath and Reconstruction.