Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

History Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in History

The Legend Of Neptune: A Portrait Of Enslavement And Emancipation In 18th-Century Worcester County, Massachusetts, Brigitte Lewis May 2021

The Legend Of Neptune: A Portrait Of Enslavement And Emancipation In 18th-Century Worcester County, Massachusetts, Brigitte Lewis

Honors Theses

“The Legend of Neptune” tracks the life of a man named Neptune, who was enslaved at my childhood home in Still River, MA 01467 for fifteen years during 1742-1757. The general topic of this undergraduate thesis is slavery in seventeenth and eighteenth-century central Massachusetts; the main topic is uncovering the voice, history, and stories of an identified enslaved and then free Black man named Neptune. The project uses a vast array of primary sources to construct a narrative that centers Neptune’s life and experiences, supported by secondary historical research. This project also tells a counternarrative to the official history of …


Is This Freedom? Government Exploitation Of Contraband Laborers In Virginia, South Carolina, And Washington, D.C. During The American Civil War, Kristin Leigh Bouldin Jan 2014

Is This Freedom? Government Exploitation Of Contraband Laborers In Virginia, South Carolina, And Washington, D.C. During The American Civil War, Kristin Leigh Bouldin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis covers the exploitation of contraband laborers during the American Civil War in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, the South Carolina Sea Islands, and Washington, D.C. In addition, it analyzes the actions of Union military commanders charged with care of the contrabands, and the failure of the federal government to create a uniform policy outlining how military officials should treat the contrabands. The thesis covers abuses ranging from failure to pay wages to a lack of medical care to the construction of disease-ridden camps to the impressment of contrabands for labor or military enlistment. It argues that military …