History Commons^™

Arlington’S Freedmen’S Village: Becoming Untethered, Gavin Gerard Harrell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This investigative study will discuss how the Freedmen's Village was designed as a community for the formerly enslaved to demonstrate what they could achieve with freedom. However, residents arriving at the Village found that they still had many restrictions placed on them and their labor, like de-facto slavery. The Freedmen’s Bureau was in charge of the Freedmen's Village. The Freedmen’s Village refused to allow able-bodied individuals to go without work, demonstrating the importance of employment. Furthermore, private agencies collaborated with both Freedmen's Village and the Freedmen’s Bureau to provide job opportunities outside of the Village for some residents. Many of …

“They Know Too Much Already:” Black Education In Post-Emancipation Era Columbus, Ga, 1866-1876, William Dwayne Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Despite local histories that have been published on the history of Columbus, Georgia, and its school system, very little has been written about Columbus’s freedmen schools created after the U.S. Civil War. As a result, a comprehensive history of Columbus’s freedmen does not exist, and those written are fragmented. The focus of this study is to document the beginnings of Columbus’s freedmen school efforts in the post-emancipation era, through those African Americans’ own historical voices and experiences. Though an analysis of archived unpublished letters, local and religious newspapers, census data, government documents, and meeting minutes, this study recovers the authentic …

The Power Of The Press In The South’S Battle Against The Freedmen’S Bureau, Rachel E. Gay Ms.

Honors College Theses

Since the invention of the printing press in the 15^th century, people have been using the power of the press to enforce their political opinion. When the Freedmen’s Bureau entered the South following the end of the Civil War, it was met with much opposition by the white Georgians. The newspapers in Georgia began their attacks on the Bureau using methods that would appeal to the audience and create a sense of tension between the locals and the Bureau agents.

The Challenges Faced By The Freedmen’S Bureau Agents Of Deep East Texas, Jacy D. King

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The years following the Civil War proved to be tumultuous for the nation and caused great social and economic upheaval in the South. Congress established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands in 1865 to provide a smoother transition in former Confederate states and to guard the liberties of the former bondsmen. The agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau in Deep East Texas faced the same challenges and hardships as their counterparts in other areas of the state and throughout the South. Numerous historians have written on Reconstruction and the Freedmen’s Bureau in Texas, but in a broader sense.

This …

Weir Family Collection (Mss 651), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid for Manuscripts Collection 651. Letters and papers of the Weir family of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, and related members of the Rumsey and Miller families. Well-to-do merchants and farmers, the Weirs were leading supporters of the Union during the Civil War, providing advocacy, financial support, and military service. Includes full-text scans of a letter from the brother of steamboat pioneer James Rumsey defending his legacy as an innovator; James Weir's journal; James Weir's will; the annotated recollections of Edward Weir, Sr.; and two letters from former Weir slaves recolonized in Liberia (Click on "Additional files" below).

Codifying Discrimination: The Status Of Women, Slaves And Freedmen In The Ancient Near East, Graham Dunbar

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

About the author:

Graham Dunbar is a sophomore at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin. As a history major, he is particularly interested in the history of the US foreign policy. He is currently a writing tutor at St Norbert’s Writing Center and hopes to pursue postgraduate education.

“’So Far From All We Love’: Letters From The Lobdell Family, Civil War Refugees From West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.” Chronicles Of Smith County, Texas 46 (2015): 37-45., Vicki Betts

Presentations and Publications

Five letters from the John Little Lobdell family, who had refugeed with their slaves first to the Natchitoches, Louisiana, area and finally to Canton (Omen) in southeast Smith County, Texas, in very late 1863. These letters describe the area and property, the sale of slave families, visitors, the end of the war, and negotiations with the freedpeople over labor contracts and transportation back to Louisiana.

Lincoln’S Vision Of Free Labor: Was Universal Opportunity, Education, And Economic Nationalism Enough To Enhance Freedmens’ Rights After The Civil War And Reconstruction?, Harry M. Hipler

Harry M Hipler

This paper will explore free labor, education, and universal opportunity – the latter being synonymous with equal opportunity – as described by Abraham Lincoln, and its connectivity to economic development and nationalism before, during, and after the Civil War era. First, I discuss Lincoln’s vision of free labor that defined his vision in 19th century America. Next, I explore the importance of universal opportunity and education as they relate to free labor as defined by white Republicans and Lincoln. The Republican Party and Lincoln strongly believed that free labor was the harbinger of success to obtain universal opportunity for all …

Cherokee Freedmen: The Struggle For Citizenship, Bethany Hope Henry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In 2011, the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court voted to exclude freedmen (descendants of former slaves) from voting, overturning a constitutional amendment that gave freedmen tribal rights. Cherokee freedmen argue that the Cherokee Nation is ignoring the Treaty of 1866 which granted all freedmen "rights as Cherokee citizens", and they call upon federal support to redeem their rights as equals. The Cherokee Nation, however, claims they are exercising tribal sovereignty and have a right to determine who is a member of their tribe. Using a comparative historical approach, the goal of this paper is to explore the institution of slavery among …

From Subject To Citizen And From Slave To Freedman: Labor Contracts At Two Moments Of American Transition, Rose Julia Phipps

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Shannon, Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1895 (Sc 561), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and typescript (click on Additional Files) for Manuscripts Small Collection 561. Journal of a voyage from South Union, Kentucky to New Orleans, Louisiana, which was kept by Thomas Jefferson Shannon, a selling agent for and a member of the South Union Colony of Shakers. The pagination refers to the typed copy of the journal which is also indexed mainly by names and places.

Textbooks, Teachers, And Compromise: The Political Work Of Freedmen Education, Ashley Marie Swarthout

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

After the end of the Civil War, Northerners flooded into the South in order to participate in the education of freedmen. While many, perhaps most, of the individuals who worked in freedmen education had the best interests of the freedmen in mind, freedmen education in of itself was inherently political; therefore, all contributors to freedmen education were also sponsors of Southern Reconstruction politics. It is my argument that the aid organizations (particularly the American Missionary Association and the American Freedmen's Union Commission), the writers and printers of freedmen-specific textbooks (the American Tract Society and Lydia Maria Child), and the teachers …

[Review Of The Book William Johnson’S Natchez: The Ante-Bellum Diary Of A Free Negro], Nick Salvatore

Nick Salvatore

[Excerpt] To raise this issue of Johnson's silences and social isolation is not to engage in historical pity. He made choices from the options available to him and suffered the consequences as they developed. But his history underscores the fact that slavery generated a corresponding social system that was unforgiving to the individual caught in its contradictory currents. As Michael P. Johnson and James L. Roark suggest in Black Masters, their sensitive study of another slave owner and ex-slave, William Ellison of South Carolina, a purely personal solution to such volatile social relations proved impossible. What bound William Johnson to …

Porter, John Marion, 1839-1884 (Sc 547), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 547. Manuscript book of recollections concerning Porter family written by John M. Porter in 1872; clippings pertaining chiefly to Porter, 1870(?)-1884; certificate of his attendance and his ribbon from The Morgan Encampment, 1883; photo of Porter, lawyer and Commonwealth’s Attorney of Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Slaughter Family Papers (Sc 402), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 402. Will, 1798; slavery bill of sale, 1810; militia commission, 1820; letters concerning Slaughter estate settlement, 1835-1843 (9); Mexican War claim, 1849; letters of recommendations for judicial appointments, 1853-1879 (7); Civil War notes and letters, 1861-1864 (4); and miscellaneous items. Selected items have been typescripted.

Warren County, Kentucky - Court Records (Sc 2527), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 2527. Warrant (1822) to sheriff to take custody of a free mulatto man found in Warren County; certificates (2) and appointment (1) relating to slave patrols in Warren County (1824-1825); and undated power of attorney authorizing apprehension of a fugitive slave from New Orleans, Louisiana.

Warren County, Kentucky - Court Records (Sc 2526), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scans (Click on "Additional Files) below for Manuscripts Small Collection 2526. Bonds for emancipated slaves in Warren County, Kentucky. The bondsmen undertake to pay a penalty if the freed slave becomes a charge on the county. Names and descriptions of the enslaved persons appear in the bonds. Includes one deed of emancipation.

Freedom In Education: The Movement To Educate The Freedmen In The Pee Dee Region During Reconstruction, Aliyyah Willis

Honors Theses

The current scholarship on the education of the freed slaves in the South during Reconstruction is not so much one of differing points of view, but of specialization within the broader topic. Most of this scholarship focuses on the Southern region as a whole, rather than limiting the scope to just one state or smaller geographic area. Instead of arguing for or against a particular point of view, today's historians are focusing on one part of the larger topic to analyze. Whether studying the people themselves and their motivations, the teachers who educated them, or the system of education that …

The African-American Emigration Movement In Georgia During Reconstruction, Falechiondro Karcheik Sims-Alvarado

History Dissertations

This dissertation is a narrative history about nearly 800 newly freed black Georgians who sought freedom beyond the borders of the Unites States by emigrating to Liberia during the years of 1866 and 1868. This work fulfills three overarching goals. First, I demonstrate that during the wake of Reconstruction, newly freed persons’ interest in returning to Africa did not die with the Civil War. Second, I identify and analyze the motivations of blacks seeking autonomy in Africa. Third, I tell the stories and challenges of those black Georgians who chose emigration as the means to civil and political freedom in …

Underwood Collection (Mss 58), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and selected full-text scans (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Collection 58. Correspondence, diaries, papers, and genealogical materials of Joseph Rogers Underwood, U.S. Senator from Bowling Green, Kentucky, his wife Elizabeth Cox Underwood, his brother Warner Lewis Underwood, and his son, John Cox Underwood.

Holman, Billy - Collector (Sc 126), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and scan (Click on "additional files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 126. Logan County, Kentucky land entries of Ninian Edwards, 1809, Jefferson County, Kentucky; legal brief concerning a lawsuit brought against the Shakers at South Union, Kentucky, 1829-1830.

Eddington, Rachel (Sc 134), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text scans of letter and typescripts for Manuscripts Small Collection 134. Letters (1857-1863) of a freed slave, Rachel Eddington of Clay Ashland, Liberia, written to Charlotte Belt, her former owner in Ohio County, Kentucky, Belt’s brother Henry Stevens, and her husband Sandy. She writes of her and her children’s illnesses and the lack of sufficient food, housing and employment in Liberia. Includes Barren County, Kentucky, slave bill of sale (1843) for Sandy; script for a radio drama (1936) based on Rachel’s letters; and correspondence (1936-1947) with the donor of the letters, who was a descendant of …

God And Slavery In America: Francis Wayland And The Evangelical Conscience, Matthew S. Hill

History Dissertations

The work examines the antislavery writings of Francis Wayland (1796-1865). Wayland pastored churches in Boston and Providence, but he left his indelible mark as the fourth and twenty-eight year president of Brown University (1827-1855). The author of numerous works on moral science, economics, philosophy, education, and the Baptist denomination, his administration marked a transitional stage in the emergence of American colleges from a classically oriented curriculum to an educational philosophy based on science and modern languages. Wayland left an enduring legacy at Brown, but it was his antislavery writings that brought him the most notoriety and controversy. Developed throughout his …

Education For All: The Freedmen's Bureau Schools In Richmond And Petersburg, 1865 - 1870, Scott Britton Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the development of Freedmen's Bureau schools in Central Virginia at the end of the Civil War. Under the watchful eye of Ralza Manly, Superintendent of the Virginia Freedmen's Bureau education division, establishing schools for freed slaves faced innumerable challenges ranging from inadequate financial resources to hostile southern whites who opposed northern intervention into local affairs. Nevertheless, northern benevolent societies and hundreds of altruistic, yet paternalistic, educational missionaries converged on Richmond and Petersburg determined that education was essential if blacks were to achieve true freedom and become self-reliant and independent. While the Bureau devoted much of its energy …

Set A Light In A Dark Place: Teachers Of Freedmen In Florida, 1863-18, Laura Wakefield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the Civil War closed and Reconstruction began, a small army of teachers arrived in Florida. Under the auspices of northern aid societies, churches, and educational associations, they proposed to educate the newly emancipated slaves, believing that education would prepare African Americans for citizenship. Teachers found Florida's freedmen determined to acquire literacy by whatever means they could, but they faced a white populace resistant to outsiders. Reformers, politicians, literate blacks, and Yankee businessmen intent on socially, politically, and economically transforming Florida joined educators in reconstructing Florida. Florida's educational system transformed during Reconstruction, and an examination of the reciprocity between Reconstruction-era …

Leek Plantation Freedmen's Bureau Ledger, 1867

Finding aids

This ledger records of the amounts of provisions, clothing, medicines, ginning, extra labor, and interest advanced to freedmen working at Leek Plantation during 1867.

Leek Plantation Freedmen's Bureau Ledger, 1867

Leek Plantation Freedman's Bureau ledger, 1867

Bound ledger listing the names of freedmen working at Leek's Plantation in eastern Pulaski County, Arkansas, as well as the amount of provisions, clothing, medicines, ginning, and interest advanced to them.

Letter From John W.A. Gillespie To Parents, Brother, And Sisters, John W.A. Gillespie

Harvey Collection Newspapers

John describes the regiment's move from Grand Junction to Bolivar in advance of a Confederate force. The Union army gathered in Bolivar now numbers about 7,000. As a means of punishing the Rebels, John supports engaging former slaves in the labors required to establish camp.