Synopses & Reviews
Land and Labor, 1865 examines the transition from slavery to free labor during the tumultuous first months after the Civil War. Letters and testimony by the participantsformer slaves, former slaveholders, Freedmen's Bureau agents, and othersreveal the connection between developments in workplaces across the South and an intensifying political contest over the meaning of freedom and the terms of national reunification. Essays by the editors place the documents in interpretive context and illuminate the major themes.
In the tense and often violent aftermath of emancipation, former slaves seeking to ground their liberty in economic independence came into conflict with former owners determined to keep them dependent and subordinate. Overseeing that conflict were northern officials with their own notions of freedom, labor, and social order. This volume of Freedom depicts the dramatic events that ensued--the eradication of bondage and the contest over restoring land to ex-Confederates; the introduction of labor contracts and the day-to-day struggles that engulfed the region's plantations, farms, and other workplaces; the achievements of those freedpeople who attained a measure of independence; and rumors of a year-end insurrection in which ex-slaves would seize the land they had been denied and exact revenge for past oppression.
Review
"One of the great editorial achievements of modern scholarship."
-- Journal of Peasant Studies
Synopsis
This collection of documents examines the transition from slavery to free labor during the tumultuous first months after the Civil War. Letters and testimony by the participantsformer slaves, former slaveholders, Freedmen's Bureau agents, and othersreveal the connection between developments in workplaces across the South and an intensifying political contest over the meaning of freedom and the terms of national reunification. Essays by the editors place the documents in interpretive context and illuminate the major themes.
Synopsis
Land and Labor, 1865 examines the transition from slavery to free labor during the tumultuous first months after the Civil War. Letters and testimony by the participants--former slaves, former slaveholders, Freedmen's Bureau agents, and others--reveal the connection between developments in workplaces across the South and an intensifying political contest over the meaning of freedom and the terms of national reunification. Essays by the editors place the documents in interpretive context and illuminate the major themes.
In the tense and often violent aftermath of emancipation, former slaves seeking to ground their liberty in economic independence came into conflict with former owners determined to keep them dependent and subordinate. Overseeing that conflict were northern officials with their own notions of freedom, labor, and social order. This volume of Freedom depicts the dramatic events that ensued--the eradication of bondage and the contest over restoring land to ex-Confederates; the introduction of labor contracts and the day-to-day struggles that engulfed the region's plantations, farms, and other workplaces; the achievements of those freedpeople who attained a measure of independence; and rumors of a year-end insurrection in which ex-slaves would seize the land they had been denied and exact revenge for past oppression.
Synopsis
"[A] magnificent collection."
--Journal of Southern History"One of the great editorial achievements of modern scholarship."
-- Journal of Peasant Studies"One cannot imagine scholars dealing with Reconstruction nationally, or the post-bellum history of any Southern state, without close attention to this work."
H-Net Reviews
Synopsis
"Provide[s] the reader with a panoramic view of the complexities of emancipation. . . . Key documents provide new insights into the mind and mood of the formerly enslaved regarding their new status. . . . A major new contribution to serious scholarship in the several related fields of Civil War, Reconstruction, and emancipation."
-Louisiana History "[A] magnificent collection."
-Journal of Southern History "One of the great editorial achievements of modern scholarship."
-Journal of Peasant Studies "One cannot imagine scholars dealing with Reconstruction nationally, or the post-bellum history of any Southern state, without close attention to this work."
-H-Net Reviews
About the Author
Steven Hahn is Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. Leslie S. Rowland is associate professor of history at the University of Maryland and director of the Freedmen and Southern Society Project. Steven F. Miller is coeditor of the Freedmen and Southern Society Project at the University of Maryland. Leslie S. Rowland is associate professor of history at the University of Maryland and director of the Freedmen and Southern Society Project.
Table of Contents
Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
The Records
The Freedmen and Southern Society Project
EDITORIAL METHOD
Elements of a Document
SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Editorial Symbols
Symbols Used to Describe Manuscripts
Abbreviations for Record Groups in the National Archives of the United States
Short Titles
Military and Other Abbreviations
LAND AND LABOR, 1865
CHAPTER 1 The Novel Condition of Freedom
CHAPTER 2 Overseeing Freedom
CHAPTER 3 Coming to Terms
CHAPTER 4 The Land Question
CHAPTER 5 Points of Contention
CHAPTER 6 Dependency and Relief
CHAPTER 7 Measures of Independence
CHAPTER 8 Settling Up
CHAPTER 9 Specters of Insurrection
CHAPTER 10 Lessons Learned
INDEX