Forging freedom : Black women and the pursuit of liberty in antebellum Charleston
by
 
Myers, Amrita Chakrabarti.

Title
Forging freedom : Black women and the pursuit of liberty in antebellum Charleston

Author
Myers, Amrita Chakrabarti.

ISBN
9780807869093
 
9781469602592

Publication Information
Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, ©2011.

Physical Description
1 online resource (xi, 267 pages) : illustrations.

Series
Gender and American culture
 
Gender & American culture.

Abstract
"For black women in antebellum Charleston, freedom was not a static legal category but a fragile and contingent experience. In this deeply researched social history, Amrita Chakrabarti Myers analyzes the ways in which black women in Charleston acquired, defined, and defended their own vision of freedom. Drawing on legislative and judicial materials, probate data, tax lists, church records, family papers, and more, Myers creates detailed portraits of individual women while exploring how black female Charlestonians sought to create a fuller freedom by improving their financial, social, and legal standing. Examining both those who were officially manumitted and those who lived as free persons but lacked official documentation, Myers reveals that free black women filed lawsuits and petitions, acquired property (including slaves), entered into contracts, paid taxes, earned wages, attended schools, and formed familial alliances with wealthy and powerful men, black and white--all in an effort to solidify and expand their freedom. Never fully free, black women had to depend on their skills of negotiation in a society dedicated to upholding both slavery and patriarchy. Forging Freedom examines the many ways in which Charleston's black women crafted a freedom of their own design instead of accepting the limited existence imagined for them by white Southerners"--Provided by publisher.

Subject Term
African American women -- South Carolina -- Charleston -- History -- 19th century.
 
African American women -- South Carolina -- Charleston -- Social conditions -- 19th century.
 
African American women -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
 
African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- South Carolina -- Charleston -- 19th century.
 
Freedmen -- South Carolina -- Charleston -- History -- 19th century.
 
Freedmen -- South Carolina -- Charleston -- Social conditions -- 19th century.
 
Slaves -- Emancipation -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
 
Antislavery movements -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
 
African Americans -- History -- 1863-1877.

Electronic Access
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9780807869093_myers


LibraryMaterial TypeItem BarcodeShelf Number[[missing key: search.ChildField.HOLDING]]Status
Online LibraryE-Book375960-1001ONLINEElektronik Kütüphane