ISBN:
0807869090
,
1469602598
,
9780807869093
,
9781469602592
Language:
English
Pages:
1 Online-Ressource (xi, 267 p)
Series Statement:
Gender and American culture
Parallel Title:
Erscheint auch als Myers, Amrita Chakrabarti Forging freedom
DDC:
305.48/8960730757915
Keywords:
African Americans Legal status, laws, etc 19th century
;
Freedmen History 19th century
;
Freedmen Social conditions 19th century
;
Slaves Emancipation 19th century
;
History
;
Antislavery movements History 19th century
;
African Americans History 1863-1877
;
African American women History 19th century
;
African American women Social conditions 19th century
;
African American women History 19th century
;
HISTORY ; United States ; State & Local ; South (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)
;
African American women
;
African American women ; Social conditions
;
African Americans
;
African Americans ; Legal status, laws, etc
;
Antislavery movements
;
Freedmen
;
Freedmen ; Social conditions
;
Race relations
;
Slaves ; Emancipation
;
Social conditions
;
SOCIAL SCIENCE ; Women's Studies
;
History
;
Electronic books
;
Charleston (S.C.) History 1775-1865
;
Charleston (S.C.) Social conditions 19th century
;
Charleston (S.C.) Race relations 19th century
;
History
;
South Carolina ; Charleston
;
United States
Abstract:
Introduction: imagining freedom in the slave South -- City of contrasts: Charleston before the Civil War -- A way out of no way: Black women and manumission -- To survive and thrive: race, sex, and waged labor in the city -- The currency of citizenship: property ownership and Black female freedom -- A tale of two women: the lives of Cecille Cogdell and Sarah Sanders -- A fragile freedom: the story of Margaret Bettingall and her daughters -- Epilogue: the continuing search for freedom
Abstract:
"For black women in antebellum Charleston, freedom was not a static legal category but a fragile and contingent experience. In this deeply researched social history, Amrita Chakrabarti Myers analyzes the ways in which black women in Charleston acquired, defined, and defended their own vision of freedom. Drawing on legislative and judicial materials, probate data, tax lists, church records, family papers, and more, Myers creates detailed portraits of individual women while exploring how black female Charlestonians sought to create a fuller freedom by improving their financial, social, and legal standing. Examining both those who were officially manumitted and those who lived as free persons but lacked official documentation, Myers reveals that free black women filed lawsuits and petitions, acquired property (including slaves), entered into contracts, paid taxes, earned wages, attended schools, and formed familial alliances with wealthy and powerful men, black and white--all in an effort to solidify and expand their freedom. Never fully free, black women had to depend on their skills of negotiation in a society dedicated to upholding both slavery and patriarchy. Forging Freedom examines the many ways in which Charleston's black women crafted a freedom of their own design instead of accepting the limited existence imagined for them by white Southerners"--Provided by publisher
Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index
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