GiveMeLiberty Ch 15-2 - Introduction Sherman Land From the...

Introduction: Sherman Land
From the Plantation to the Senate

The Meaning of Freedom
•
Blacks and the Meaning of Freedom
–
African Americans’ understanding of freedom was
shaped by their experience as slaves and
observation of the free society around them.
–
Blacks relished the opportunity to demonstrate
their liberation from the regulations (significant
and trivial) associated with slavery.

The Meaning of Freedom
•
Families in Freedom
–
The family was central to the postemancipation
black community.
–
Freedom subtly altered relationships within the
family.
•
Emancipation increased the power of black men within
the family.
•
Black women withdrew from work as field laborers and
house servants to the domestic sphere.

Family Record, a lithograph marketed to former
slaves after the Civil War

The Meaning of Freedom
•
Church and School
–
Blacks abandoned white-controlled religious
institutions to create churches of their own.
–
Blacks of all ages flocked to the schools
established by northern missionary societies, the
Freedmen’s Bureau, and groups of ex-slaves.
–
1869: 600,000 Blacks enrolled in schools.

Mother and Daughter Reading, Mt. Meigs

The Meaning of Freedom
•
Political Freedom
–
The right to vote became central to the former
slaves’ desire for empowerment and equality.
–
To demonstrate their patriotism, blacks
throughout the South organized Fourth of July
celebrations.

The Meaning of Freedom
•
Land, Labor, and Freedom
–
Former slaves’ ideas of freedom were directly
related to land ownership.
•
Many former slaves insisted that through their unpaid
labor they had acquired a right to the land.

The Meaning of Freedom
•
Masters without Slaves
–
The South’s defeat was complete and
demoralizing.
•
Planter families faced profound changes.
–
Most planters defined black freedom in the
narrowest manner.
**Letter from WFW to Dr. Carter.

Map 15.1 The Barrow Plantation

The Meaning of Freedom
•
The Free Labor Vision
–
The victorious Republican North tried to
implement its own vision of freedom.
•
Free labor
–
The goal of The Freedmen’s Bureau was to
establish a working free labor system.

The Meaning of Freedom
•
The Freedmen’s Bureau (March 1865)
–
The task of the Bureau—establishing schools,
providing aid to the poor and aged, settling
disputes, etc.—was daunting, especially since it
had fewer than 1,000 agents.
–
The Bureau’s achievements in some areas, notably
education and health care, were striking.

The Freedmen’s Bureau, an engraving from
Harper’s Weekly

Black students outside a schoolhouse in a post–Civil
War photograph. The teacher is seated at the far right.

The Meaning of Freedom
•
The Failure of Land Reform
–
President Andrew Johnson ordered nearly all land