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Emilie Davis was a free African American woman who lived in
Philadelphia during the Civil War. She worked as a seamstress,
attended the Institute for Colored Youth, and was an active member
of her community. She lived an average life in her day, but what
sets her apart is that she kept a diary. Her daily entries from
1863 to 1865, touch on the momentous and the mundane: she discusses
her own and her community's reaction to events of the war, such as
the Battle of Gettysburg, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the
assassination of President Lincoln, as well as the minutiae of the
social life of Philadelphia's black community. The diaries allow
the reader to experience the Civil War in "real time" through the
perspective of a free black woman, providing a voice in
counterpoint to more widely known diaries of the period.
Judith Giesberg has written an accessible introduction to the work,
situating Davis and her diaries within the historical, cultural,
and political context of Philadelphia during the war. In addition
to furnishing a new window through which to view the war's major
events, Davis's diaries give us a rare look into how the war was
lived as a part of personal, everyday life, as its dramatic turns
and lulls and its pervasive, agonizing uncertainty affected life in
a northern city with a vibrant black community.
Emilie Davis was a free African American woman who lived in
Philadelphia during the Civil War. She worked as a seamstress,
attended the Institute for Colored Youth, and was an active member
of her community. She lived an average life in her day, but what
sets her apart is that she kept a diary. Her daily entries from
1863 to 1865, touch on the momentous and the mundane: she discusses
her own and her community's reaction to events of the war, such as
the Battle of Gettysburg, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the
assassination of President Lincoln, as well as the minutiae of the
social life of Philadelphia's black community. The diaries allow
the reader to experience the Civil War in "real time" through the
perspective of a free black woman, providing a voice in
counterpoint to more widely known diaries of the period.
Judith Giesberg has written an accessible introduction to the work,
situating Davis and her diaries within the historical, cultural,
and political context of Philadelphia during the war. In addition
to furnishing a new window through which to view the war's major
events, Davis's diaries give us a rare look into how the war was
lived as a part of personal, everyday life, as its dramatic turns
and lulls and its pervasive, agonizing uncertainty affected life in
a northern city with a vibrant black community.
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