Description
When thousands of African Americans freed themselves from slavery during the American Civil War and launched the larger process of emancipation, hundreds of northern antislavery reformers traveled to the federally occupied South to assist them. The two groups brought views and practices from their backgrounds that both helped and hampered the transition out of slavery. While enslaved, many Blacks assumed a certain guarded demeanor when dealing with whites. In freedom, they resented northerners' paternalistic attitudes and preconceptions about race, leading some to oppose aid programs--included those related to education, vocational training, and religious and social activities--initiated by whites. Some interactions resulted in constructive cooperation and adjustments to curriculum, but the frequent disputes more often compelled Blacks to seek additional autonomy.
In an exhaustive analysis of the relationship between the formerly enslaved and northern reformers, John Cimprich shows how the unusual circumstances of emancipation in wartime presented new opportunities and spawned social movements for change yet produced intractable challenges and limited results. Navigating Liberty serves as the first comprehensive study of the two groups' collaboration and conflict, adding an essential chapter to the history of slavery's end in the United States.Author: John Cimprich
Publisher: LSU Press
Published: 11/02/2022
Pages: 246
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.16lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.69d
ISBN13: 9780807177990
ISBN10: 0807177997
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States | Civil War Period (1850-1877)
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies | American | African American & Black Studies
- History | United States | State & Local | South (AL,AR,FL,GA,KY,LA,MS,
About the Author
John Cimprich is retired professor of history at Thomas More University and author of Slavery's End in Tennessee, 1861-1865 and Fort Pillow, a Civil War Massacre, and Public Memory.