Between Slavery and Freedom

Free People of Color in America From Settlement to the Civil War

By (author) Julie Winch Series edited by Jacqueline M. Moore, Nina Mjagkij

Not available to order

Publication date:

04 April 2014

Length of book:

186 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780742551152

In Between Slavery and Freedom, Julie Winch explores the complex world of those people of African birth or descent who occupied the “borderlands” between slavery and freedom in the 350 years from the founding of the first European colonies in what is today the United States to the start of the Civil War. However they had navigated their way out of bondage – through flight, through military service, through self-purchase, through the working of the law in different times and in different places, or because they were the offspring of parents who were themselves free – they were determined to enjoy the same rights and liberties that white people enjoyed. In a concise narrative and selected primary documents, noted historian Julie Winch shows the struggle of black people to gain and maintain their liberty and lay claim to freedom in its fullest sense. Refusing to be relegated to the margins of American society and languish in poverty and ignorance, they repeatedly challenged their white neighbors to live up to the promises of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. Winch’s accessible, concise, and jargon-free book, including primary sources and the latest scholarship, will benefit undergraduate students of American history and general readers alike by allowing them to judge the evidence for themselves and evaluate the authors’ conclusions.
Throughout the history of European settlement in America, free people of color continually had to negotiate a challenging 'borderland' region between slavery and freedom. In this excellent summary, Winch provides a nuanced history of slavery that challenges traditional dichotomies of race and definitions of freedom. She examines slavery from the perspective of those on the fringes–from enslaved Africans in Montreal to a small number of African-born colonial slave owners, black Loyalists, mixed-race runaways in Florida, and men like Francis Johnson, an African American musician who toured extensively in Europe. After independence, although free people of color had achieved liberty, they never achieved full access to citizenship and equality as promised in the US Constitution. Well written and readily accessible, this book offers undergraduates and scholars alike an exceptional analysis of the complex definitions of race and freedom throughout early US history. Winch also provides primary source documents and images pertaining to slavery and freedom, as well as an informative short essay of suggested readings. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.