Beyond Slavery: Explorations of Race, Labor, and Citizenship in Postemancipation Societies

In this collaborative work, three leading historians explore one of the most significant areas of inquiry in modern historiography—the transition from slavery to freedom and what this transition meant for former slaves, former slaveowners, and the societies in which they lived. Their contributions take us beyond the familiar portrait of emancipation as the end of an evil system to consider the questions and the struggles that emerged in freedom's wake.

Thomas Holt focuses on emancipation in Jamaica and the contested meaning of citizenship in defining and redefining the concept of freedom; Rebecca Scott investigates the complex struggles and cross-racial alliances that evolved in southern Louisiana and Cuba after the end of slavery; and Frederick Cooper examines the intersection of emancipation and imperialism in French West Africa. In their introduction, the authors address issues of citizenship, labor, and race, in the post-emancipation period and they point the way toward a fuller understanding of the meanings of freedom.

A masterful piece.

Journal of Southern History Deserves a wide readership.

Journal of American History The authors are to be congratulated for putting together a useful and stimulating volume.

American Historical Review A short review cannot do justice to the complexities within these pages.

Harvard Business History Review Beyond Slavery is an extraordinary book of breathtaking scope that addresses matters of signal importance.

Ira Berlin, University of Maryland at College Park

A historical exploration of the societal changes and difficulties brought about immediately following the end of slavery both in the Americas and Africa. The authors address issues of citizenship, labor, and race, and point the way toward a fuller understanding of the contested meaning of freedom.

Rebecca J. Scott is Frederick Huetwell Professor of History at the University of Michigan.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Thomas C. Holt / The Essence of the Contract: The Articulation of Race, Gender, and Political Economy in British Emancipation Policy, 1838-1866

Rebecca J. Scott / Fault Lines, Color Lines, and Party Lines: Race, Labor, and Collective Action in Louisiana and Cuba, 1862-1912

Frederick Cooper / Conditions Analogous to Slavery: Imperialism and Free Labor Ideaology in Africa

Afterword

Notes

Index