...This chapter relates how the Federal Writers’ Project decided to conduct and collect interviews with ex-slaves. It closely examines federal and state directors’ administrative correspondence regarding the Ex-Slave Project, and the instructions federal directors such as Henry Alsberg, John Lomax...

...This chapter examines the methods African American employees on the Florida Project adopted in order to establish their authority within the Federal Writers’ Project. Florida was one of the earliest states to submit ex-slave narratives to the federal office, and under the direction of Carita...

...Turning to the ex-slave narrators,this chapterdemonstrates how they employed African American oral traditions like signifying to create counter-narratives of black history and identity. This chapter compares Georgia’s ex-slave narratives with those from Florida’s Negro Writers’ Unit. Several FWP...

...This part of the book contains statements that relate to the condition and treatment of slaves in the south eastern part of North Carolina. Most of the facts related here by Nehemiah Caulkins of Waterford, Connecticut, fell under his personal observation. The text starts with testimonials about...

...This section of the book contains objections regarding the treatment of slaves. Slaveholders are accused here of not regarding their slaves as human beings, but as animals or goods. objections treatment slaves slaveholders THE enormities inflicted by slaveholders upon their slaves will never...

... Sarah Otis Ernst, who participated on the Business Committee. The issue of fugitive slaves making their way north to freedom through Ohio dominated discussions. Several resolutions proclaimed the moral necessity of aiding these men, women, and children in their dangerous travels. On the afternoon...

...This chapter examines human bondage in the nation's capital, how slaves worked and lived, and how they interacted with whites and other blacks, both slave and free. While “the web of slave interrelationships” was significant on a large plantation, the same was true in an urban setting...

...This chapter describes the escape attempt of approximately seventy-six slaves on the Pearl, with the aid of Daniel Drayton. The plan, based on geography, was to sail down the river to the Chesapeake, then up the bay to freedom. It was a daring and seemingly foolproof scheme, except...

...During the second half of 1862, most Union officers in the West adopted more emancipationist policies. They routinely confiscated the slaves of rebels and employed many of them as scouts, spies, laborers, cooks, etc. This became the predominant policy across the several armies operating in the West...

... Crittenden John Jordan Kennedy John Pendleton Border South Christiana PA Kansas Nebraska Act Slavery Baltimore MD Cincinnati OH Louisville KY Philadelphia PA Saint Louis MO Wilmington DE New Orleans LA American Party Nativism Benning Henry L Slave trade Virginia Lincoln Abraham Benton...

...This chapter considers the experiences of Africans in New Amsterdam, many of whom began their lives in the colony as property of the West India Company (WIC). On February 25, 1644, the long-serving slaves of the WIC along with their wives were granted their freedom. However, this freedom...

...This introductory chapter discusses slave impressment in North Carolina and Virginia. Through impressment, white Virginians and North Carolinians temporarily surrendered control over portions of their slave populations to state authorities, military officials, and finally the national government...

...This chapter discusses slave impressment from 1861–1863. Military use of slave labor at the start of the war revealed issues that state legislatures would need to resolve for the Confederate army to meet its labor requirements. In addition to addressing legal or constitutional objections to slave...

...William Henry Singleton, born a slave near New Bern, is sold away from his family at age four. Taken to Atlanta, he escapes by pretending to be a lady’s servant, makes his way back to New Bern. For three years he hides under the cellar of his mother’s house, till he is discovered and sold again...

... discusses the relationship between clothing and politics, Thomas Jefferson's politics of clothing, and how African Americans became political subjects in part through debates about the clothing of slaves in antebellum South. Britain Consumption clothing Hamiltonians Jefferson Thomas reputation of Logan...

... city. By 24 May 1861, the first documented fugitive slaves of the war had already sought out Union troops at Fortress Monroe, near historic Jamestown, and had begun to work as military laborers. Enough black Baptists in the commonwealth took advantage of the relative ease of escape...

... individuals who benefited the most from the campaign. This book explores the role of Virginia slaves and free blacks in the Peninsula Campaign, uncovering the ways in which Virginia blacks were involved in one of the largest campaigns of the American Civil War. Andrus Michael J Malvern Hill Battle...

...This chapter discusses General Mc-Clellan siege operations at Yorktown. When Union troops entered Yorktown, the soldiers gained a new appreciation for the Peninsula's black community. The chapter highlights the developing relationship between fugitive slaves and the Army of the Potomac during...

... slaves Bombardment of Petersburg John H. Claiborne Charles Campbell Civilian refugees Shortages and inflation Crime Urban slavery Wartime social life The New York Times correspondent watched with amazement as the Federal cavalry went into camp at the conclusion of the Wilson...

...’ Anti Slavery Society RLASS Erie Canal Friendship Good Cassandra Western New York Anti Slavery Society WNYASS Brown William Wells Fugitive Slaves Garrison William Lloyd Hicksite Friends Jacobs Harriet Nell William Cooper Remond Charles Lenox Society of Friends Sophia Street Truth Sojourner...