Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867: Series 3, Volume 2: Land and Labor, 1866-1867

Land and Labor, 1866-1867 examines the remaking of the South's labor system in the tumultuous aftermath of emancipation. Using documents selected from the National Archives, this volume of Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation depicts the struggle of unenfranchised and impoverished ex-slaves to control their own labor, establish their families as viable economic units, and secure independent possession of land. Among the topics addressed are the dispossession of settlers in the Sherman reserve, the reordering of labor on plantation and farm, nonagricultural labor, new relations of credit and debt, long-distance labor migration, and the efforts of former slaves to rent, purchase, and homestead land. The documents--many of them in the freedpeople's own words--speak eloquently for themselves, while the editors' interpretive essays provide context and illuminate major themes.

ISBN-13: 9781469607429

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: University of North Carolina Press

Publication Date: 08-19-2013

Pages: 1104

Product Dimensions: 9.40h x 6.50w x 2.80d

Series: Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation

Rene Hayden is an independent scholar in Washington, D.C. Anthony E. Kaye is associate professor of history at Pennsylvania State University. Kate Masur is associate professor of history and African American studies at Northwestern University. Steven F. Miller is coeditor of the Freedmen and Southern Society Project at the University of Maryland. Susan E. O'Donovan is associate professor of history at the University of Memphis. Leslie S. Rowland is associate professor of history at the University of Maryland and director of the Freedmen and Southern Society Project. Stephen A. West is associate professor of history at the Catholic University of America.