As slavery collapsed during the American Civil War, former slaves struggled to secure their liberty, reconstitute their families, and create the institutions befitting a free people. This volume of Freedom presents a documentary history of the emergence of free-labor relations in different settings in the Upper South. At first, most federal officials hoped to mobilize former slaves without either transforming the conflict into a war of liberation or assuming responsibility for the young, the old, or others not suitable for military employment. But as the Union army came to depend on black workers and as the number of destitute freedpeople mounted, authorities at all levels grappled with intertwined questions of freedom, labor and welfare. Meanwhile, the former slaves pursued their own objectives, working within the constraints imposed by the war and Union occupation to fashion new lives as free people. The Civil War sealed the fate of slavery only to open a contest over the meaning of freedom. This volume of Freedom documents an important chapter in that contest.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"There is so much in these documents that scholars, teachers, and students of history will literally lose themselves in the incredible story before them. Everyone associated with this project is to be commended for a marvelous job well done indeed." Ronald L. F. Davis, The Journal of Southern History
"...(pxxi), the authors state: 'Taken together, these records provide the fullest documentation of the destruction of a dependent social relationship, the release of a people from their dependent status, and the simultaneous transformation of an entire society. As far as is known, no comparable record exists for the liberation of any group of serfs or slaves or for the transformation of any people into wage workers' (xix). Ira Berlin, Steven Miller, Joseph Reidy, and Leslie Rowland are to be commended for their effort." Edmund L. Drago, Georgia Historical Quarterly
"The skillfully written essays that introduce this volume as a whole as well as the individual state chapters significantly advance our understanding of this pivotal period. Superbly crafted and accessible, these essays would make splendid supplementary reading for undergraduates....The scholarly community owes the editorial team its gratitude, especially Ira Berlin who returned to teaching with the completion of this volume after setting a new standard of excellence for documentary history with the Freedman and Southern History Project." Barbara L. Bellows, Labor History
"...certainly qualifies as another landmark achievement....All serious students of the war owe a mounting debt to the editors of this magisterial project." Civil War
"...(pxxi), the authors state: 'Taken together, these records provide the fullest documentation of the destruction of a dependent social relationship, the release of a people from their dependent status, and the simultaneous transformation of an entire society. As far as is known, no comparable record exists for the liberation of any group of serfs or slaves or for the transformation of any people into wage workers' (xix). Ira Berlin, Steven Miller, Joseph Reidy, and Leslie Rowland are to be commended for their effort." Edmund L. Drago, Georgia Historical Quarterly
"The skillfully written essays that introduce this volume as a whole as well as the individual state chapters significantly advance our understanding of this pivotal period. Superbly crafted and accessible, these essays would make splendid supplementary reading for undergraduates....The scholarly community owes the editorial team its gratitude, especially Ira Berlin who returned to teaching with the completion of this volume after setting a new standard of excellence for documentary history with the Freedman and Southern History Project." Barbara L. Bellows, Labor History
"...certainly qualifies as another landmark achievement....All serious students of the war owe a mounting debt to the editors of this magisterial project." Civil War
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
IN MID-MAY 1861, with the war only a month old, the first fugitive slaves arrived at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, an isolated federal outpost at the tip of the peninsula formed by the York and James rivers. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
unentered letters, black military laborers, wartime labor arrangements, military employers, disloyal owners, contraband camps, negro apprentices, black recruitment, leased plantations, plantation superintendents, bureau superintendent, colored refugees, black teamsters, deponent saith, negro affairs, respectfully your obt, provost marshal general, orphans court, other border states, government farms, most former slaves, former slaveholders, other endorsements, black refugees, refugee home Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
North Carolina, Army Corps, Camp Nelson, War Department, Department of Virginia, Freedman's Village, Central Records, Freedmen's Bureau, District of Columbia, Fortress Monroe, Camp Barker, General John, Roanoke Island, Department of the Cumberland, Department of the Missouri, Middle Department, Southern Claims Commission, Department of Washington, Consolidated Correspondence File, Fort Donelson, Fort Monroe, American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission, Mason's Island, Major Genl, New Berne New!
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
IN MID-MAY 1861, with the war only a month old, the first fugitive slaves arrived at Fortress Monroe, Virginia, an isolated federal outpost at the tip of the peninsula formed by the York and James rivers. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
unentered letters, black military laborers, wartime labor arrangements, military employers, disloyal owners, contraband camps, negro apprentices, black recruitment, leased plantations, plantation superintendents, bureau superintendent, colored refugees, black teamsters, deponent saith, negro affairs, respectfully your obt, provost marshal general, orphans court, other border states, government farms, most former slaves, former slaveholders, other endorsements, black refugees, refugee home Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
North Carolina, Army Corps, Camp Nelson, War Department, Department of Virginia, Freedman's Village, Central Records, Freedmen's Bureau, District of Columbia, Fortress Monroe, Camp Barker, General John, Roanoke Island, Department of the Cumberland, Department of the Missouri, Middle Department, Southern Claims Commission, Department of Washington, Consolidated Correspondence File, Fort Donelson, Fort Monroe, American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission, Mason's Island, Major Genl, New Berne New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 40
books:
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- Segmented Work, Divided Workers: The historical transformation of labor in the United States by David M. Gordon in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
- Essays on the Postbellum Southern Economy (Walter Prescott Webb Memorial Lectures, published for the University of Texas at) by Thavolia Glymph in Front Matter, and page 367
- Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground: Maryland During the Nineteenth Century (Yale Historical Publications Series) by Barbara Jeanne Fields on page 481
- The Discovery of the Asylum (New Lines in Criminology) by David J. Rothman in Front Matter
- Class and Community: The Industrial Revolution in Lynn by Alan Dawley in Front Matter
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