Gender and the Jubilee

Black Freedom and the Reconstruction of Citizenship in Civil War Missouri

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Law, Legal History, History, Americas, United States, Civil War Period (1850-1877)
Cover of the book Gender and the Jubilee by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman, University of Georgia Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman ISBN: 9780820348049
Publisher: University of Georgia Press Publication: January 15, 2016
Imprint: University of Georgia Press Language: English
Author: Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
ISBN: 9780820348049
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Publication: January 15, 2016
Imprint: University of Georgia Press
Language: English

Gender and the Jubilee is a bold reconceptualization of black freedom during the Civil War that uncovers the political and constitutional claims made by African American women. By analyzing the actions of women in the urban environment of St. Louis and the surrounding areas of rural Missouri, Romeo uncovers the confluence of military events, policy changes, and black agency that shaped the gendered paths to freedom and citizenship.

During the turbulent years of the Civil War crisis, African American women asserted their vision of freedom through a multitude of strategies. They took concerns ordinarily under the jurisdiction of civil courts, such as assault and child custody, and transformed them into military matters. African American women petitioned military police for “free papers”; testified against former owners; fled to contraband camps; and “joined the army” with their male relatives, serving as cooks, laundresses, and nurses.

Freedwomen, and even enslaved women, used military courts to lodge complaints against employers and former masters, sought legal recognition of their marriages, and claimed pensions as the widows of war veterans. Through military venues, African American women in a state where the institution of slavery remained unmolested by the Emancipation Proclamation, demonstrated a claim on citizenship rights well before they would be guaranteed through the establishment of the Fourteenth Amendment. The litigating slave women of antebellum St. Louis, and the female activists of the Civil War period, left a rich legal heritage to those who would continue the struggle for civil rights in the postbellum era.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Gender and the Jubilee is a bold reconceptualization of black freedom during the Civil War that uncovers the political and constitutional claims made by African American women. By analyzing the actions of women in the urban environment of St. Louis and the surrounding areas of rural Missouri, Romeo uncovers the confluence of military events, policy changes, and black agency that shaped the gendered paths to freedom and citizenship.

During the turbulent years of the Civil War crisis, African American women asserted their vision of freedom through a multitude of strategies. They took concerns ordinarily under the jurisdiction of civil courts, such as assault and child custody, and transformed them into military matters. African American women petitioned military police for “free papers”; testified against former owners; fled to contraband camps; and “joined the army” with their male relatives, serving as cooks, laundresses, and nurses.

Freedwomen, and even enslaved women, used military courts to lodge complaints against employers and former masters, sought legal recognition of their marriages, and claimed pensions as the widows of war veterans. Through military venues, African American women in a state where the institution of slavery remained unmolested by the Emancipation Proclamation, demonstrated a claim on citizenship rights well before they would be guaranteed through the establishment of the Fourteenth Amendment. The litigating slave women of antebellum St. Louis, and the female activists of the Civil War period, left a rich legal heritage to those who would continue the struggle for civil rights in the postbellum era.

More books from University of Georgia Press

Cover of the book The Black Panther Party in a City near You by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book Of Gods and Games by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book Invisible Sisters by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book Ghost Traps by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book The Small Heart of Things by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book Campus Sexpot by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book Hurricane Walk by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book Finding Purple America by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book The Decision to Attack by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book The Current That Carries by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book Selling the Serengeti by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book The Black O by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book A Field Guide for Immersion Writing by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book James McHenry, Forgotten Federalist by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
Cover of the book Thomas Pynchon, Sex, and Gender by Sharon Romeo, Timothy Huebner, Paul Finkelman
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy