The Essence of Liberty: Free Black Women During the Slave EraUniversity of Missouri Press, 2006 - 290 pages Before 1865, slavery and freedom coexisted tenuously in America in an environment that made it possible not only for enslaved women to become free but also for emancipated women to suddenly lose their independence. Wilma King now examines a wide-ranging body of literature to show that, even in the face of economic deprivation and draconian legislation, many free black women were able to maintain some form of autonomy and lead meaningful lives. The Essence of Liberty blends social, political, and economic history to analyze black women's experience in both the North and the South, from the colonial period through emancipation. Focusing on class and familial relationships, King examines the myriad sources of freedom for black women to show the many factors that, along with time spent in slavery before emancipation, shaped the meaning of freedom. Her book also raises questions about whether free women were bound to or liberated from gender conventions of their day. Drawing on a wealth of untapped primary sources--not only legal documents and newspapers but also the diaries, letters, and autobiographical writings of free women--King opens a new window on the world of black women. She examines how they became free, educated themselves, found jobs, maintained self-esteem, and developed social consciousness--even participating in the abolitionist movement. She considers the stance of southern free women toward their enslaved contemporaries and the interactions between previously free and newly freed women after slavery ended. She also looks closely at women's spirituality, disclosing the dilemma some women faced when they took a stand against men--even black men--in order to follow their spiritual callings. Throughout this engaging history, King underscores the pernicious constraints that racism placed on the lives of free blacks in spite of the fact that they were not enslaved. The Essence of Liberty shows the importance of studying these women on their own terms, revealing that the essence of freedom is more complex than the mere absence of shackles. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 39
Page 2
... owners, but their agility in developing survival techniques while protecting themselves from the furies of racism points to their will to make their freedom meaningful.2 There were nuances between the effervescence of liberty and the ...
... owners, but their agility in developing survival techniques while protecting themselves from the furies of racism points to their will to make their freedom meaningful.2 There were nuances between the effervescence of liberty and the ...
Page 12
... owner ] besides $ 3 or 4 00 for herself ... She sells cakes and pies in the street Every day she takes a large waiter ... owners . Few skilled women managed to purchase themselves without aid from others . Elizabeth Keckley's quest for ...
... owner ] besides $ 3 or 4 00 for herself ... She sells cakes and pies in the street Every day she takes a large waiter ... owners . Few skilled women managed to purchase themselves without aid from others . Elizabeth Keckley's quest for ...
Page 15
... owners with the option to free them. Other mulattoes were the children of owners' relatives, overseers, friends, or persons without legal authority to emancipate another person's chattel.32 The slaveholder's status, marital and ...
... owners with the option to free them. Other mulattoes were the children of owners' relatives, overseers, friends, or persons without legal authority to emancipate another person's chattel.32 The slaveholder's status, marital and ...
Page 16
... owners were unwilling to underwrite the cost of child care during the women's fecund years and allowed them to buy themselves. If owners maintained the women through their reproductive years, they were less likely to manumit them ...
... owners were unwilling to underwrite the cost of child care during the women's fecund years and allowed them to buy themselves. If owners maintained the women through their reproductive years, they were less likely to manumit them ...
Page 18
... owner's home during the American Revolution. Discussions about the 1780 constitution saying all persons were “born free and equal” piqued her desire for liberty. She and another bondservant solicited the help of Theodore Sedgwick who ...
... owner's home during the American Revolution. Discussions about the 1780 constitution saying all persons were “born free and equal” piqued her desire for liberty. She and another bondservant solicited the help of Theodore Sedgwick who ...
Contents
1 | |
5 | |
33 | |
3 The Pursuit of Happiness | 59 |
4 Knowledge is power | 89 |
5 Whom do you serve God or man? | 116 |
6 Female sympathy in the cause of freedom and humanity | 141 |
7 The Civil War and Emancipation | 170 |
Notes | 197 |
Bibliography | 241 |
Index | 283 |
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Abolition abolitionist African American African American Women Antebellum antislavery Archives Autobiography Berlin bondage Brown Census Charleston Charlotte Forten Charlotte Forten Grimké church City Civil County Court Darlene Clark Hine daughter economic Edited Eliza Elizabeth Ellen emancipated enslaved women Family Female Frances E. W. Harper Frederick Douglass free black women Free Negro free persons free women free-born freed freedom fugitives Georgia Harriet Jacobs Harriet Tubman hereafter cited History husband Ibid James Jarena Lee John Johnson Keckley liberty lived Louisiana loved Lower South manumissions Maria Mary Ann Shadd Mississippi Missouri mother mulatto Nineteenth-Century North Orleans owners Papers Pennsylvania Petitions Philadelphia Political population preach Primus Race racial Rebecca Jackson religious Roark Sisters slave-born slaveholding slaveowners Slavery Slaves Without Masters social Society Sojourner Truth South Carolina Southern spiritual Statutes Sterling Stewart teachers Texas tion U.S. Army United University Press Washington white women William Wilma King woman wrote York