Rethinking American Emancipation
Legacies of Slavery and the Quest for Black Freedom

This volume unpacks the long history and varied meanings of the emancipation of American slaves.

William A. Link (Edited by), James J. Broomall (Edited by)

9781107421349, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 November 2015

296 pages, 14 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.3 x 1.6 cm, 0.41 kg

'Eschewing the iconography of emancipation, the nine essays in this volume from a 2013 conference offer 'new ways' of understanding slavery's demise in the US: e.g., Lincoln's 1863 edict did not end slavery, but began freedom's long journey; emancipation impacted all Southerners, not just former slaves; the emancipation state continued its territorial expansion and conquest into the US West; emancipation remained contested terrain by radicals and liberals in the US and diasporic Africans in the Americas. The volume sits within an evolving historiography of 'factors, contingencies, and individual efforts' shaping emancipation. Summing up: recommended. All academic levels/libraries.' J. R. Kerr-Ritchie, Choice

On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, an event that soon became a bold statement of presidential power, a dramatic shift in the rationale for fighting the Civil War, and a promise of future freedom for four million enslaved Americans. But the document marked only a beginning; freedom's future was anything but certain. Thereafter, the significance of both the Proclamation and of emancipation assumed new and diverse meanings, as African Americans explored freedom and the nation attempted to rebuild itself. Despite the sweeping power of Lincoln's Proclamation, struggle, rather than freedom, defined emancipation's broader legacy. The nine essays in this volume unpack the long history and varied meanings of the emancipation of American slaves. Together, the contributions argue that 1863 did not mark an end point or a mission accomplished in black freedom; rather, it initiated the beginning of an ongoing, contested process.

Introduction William A. Link and James Broomall
Part I. Claiming Emancipation: 1. A universe of flight Yael Sternhell
2. Force, freedom, and the making of emancipation Greg Downs
3. Military interference in elections as an influence on abolition William A. Blair
Part II. Contesting Emancipation: 4. 'One pillar of the social fabric may still stand firm': bluegrass marriage in the emancipation era Allison Fredette
5. Axes of empire: race, region, and the 'greater Reconstruction' of federal authority after emancipation Carole Emberton
6. Fear of reenslavement: black political mobilization in response to the waning of Reconstruction Justin Behrend
Part III. Remembering Emancipation: 7. African Americans and the long emancipation in New South Atlanta William A. Link
8. 'Washington, Toussaint, and Bolivar, the glorious advocates of liberty': black internationalism and reimagining emancipation Paul Ortiz
9. Remembering the abolitionists John Stauffer
Epilogue: emancipation and the nation Laura F. Edwards.

Subject Areas: Slavery & abolition of slavery [HBTS], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], History of the Americas [HBJK]