I Freed Myself
African American Self-Emancipation in the Civil War Era

This book examines the many ways in which African Americans made the Civil War about ending slavery.

David Williams (Author)

9781107016491, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 April 2014

278 pages, 24 b/w illus.
23.1 x 15.5 x 2.3 cm, 0.5 kg

'… Williams has provided a potent readable account replete with African American voices: one that reveals their central role in ending slavery and expanding the boundaries of freedom.' Robert Colby, North Carolina Historical Review

For a century and a half, Abraham Lincoln's signing of the Emancipation Proclamation has been the dominant narrative of African American freedom in the Civil War era. However, David Williams suggests that this portrayal marginalizes the role that African American slaves played in freeing themselves. At the Civil War's outset, Lincoln made clear his intent was to save the Union rather than free slaves - despite his personal distaste for slavery, he claimed no authority to interfere with the institution. By the second year of the war, though, when the Union army was in desperate need of black support, former slaves who escaped to Union lines struck a bargain: they would fight for the Union only if they were granted their freedom. Williams importantly demonstrates that freedom was not simply the absence of slavery but rather a dynamic process enacted by self-emancipated African American refugees, which compelled Lincoln to modify his war aims and place black freedom at the center of his wartime policies.

Introduction: following the footsteps of slaves
1. 'Yes, we all shall be free': pressing the nation toward freedom
2. 'Shedding the first blood': forcing a war for freedom
3. 'Ready to die for liberty': expanding the boundaries of freedom
4. 'Full equality before the law': claiming the rights of freedom
5. 'All we ask is justice': continuing struggles for freedom.

Subject Areas: Slavery & abolition of slavery [HBTS], Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], History of the Americas [HBJK]