African Americans, Death, and the New Birth of Freedom - Dying Free during the Civil War and Reconstruction (Hardcover)

This innovative book examines how African Americans in the South made sense of the devastating loss of life unleashed by the Civil War and emancipation. During and after the war, African Americans died in vast numbers from battle, disease, and racial violence. While freedom was a momentous event for the formerly enslaved, it was also deadly. Through an investigation into how African Americans reacted to and coped with the passing away of loved ones and community members, Ashley Towle argues that freedpeople gave credence to their free status through their experiences with mortality. African Americans harnessed the power of death in a variety of arenas, including within the walls of national and private civilian cemeteries, in applications for widows' pensions, in the pulpits of black churches, around seance tables, on the witness stand at congressional hearings, and in the columns of African American newspapers. In the process of mourning the demise of kith and kin, black people reconstituted their families, forged communal bonds, and staked claims to citizenship, civil rights, and racial justice from the federal government. In a society upended by civil war and emancipation, death was political.

General

Imprint:	Lexington Books-Fortress Academic
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	New Studies in Southern History
Release date:	November 2022
Authors:	Ashley Towle
Dimensions:	229 x 152mm (L x W)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	201
ISBN-13:	978-1-66690-571-7
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > American history > General Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Ethnic studies > Black studies Books > History > American history > General Books > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Promotions
LSN:	1-66690-571-2
Barcode:	9781666905717

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