By Loren Schweninger
Dred Scott and his landmark Supreme Court case are ingrained
in the national memory, but he was just one of multitudes who appealed for
their freedom in courtrooms across the country. Appealing for Liberty is
the most comprehensive study to give voice to these African Americans, drawing
from more than 2,000 suits and from the testimony of more than 4,000 plaintiffs
from the Revolutionary era to the Civil War. Through the petitions, evidence,
and testimony introduced in these court proceedings, the lives of the enslaved
come sharply and poignantly into focus, as do many other aspects of southern
society such as the efforts to preserve and re-unite black families. This book
depicts in graphic terms, the pain, suffering, fears, and trepidations of the
plaintiffs while discussing the legal systemlawyers, judges, juries, and
testimonythat made judgments on their "causes," as the suits were
often called.
Arguments for freedom were diverse: slaves brought suits claiming they had been
freed in wills and deeds, were born of free mothers, were descendants of free
white women or Indian women; they charged that they were illegally imported to
some states or were residents of the free states and territories. Those who
testified on their behalf, usually against leaders of their communities, were
generally white. So too were the lawyers who took these cases, many of them men
of prominence, such as Francis Scott Key. More often than not, these men were
slave owners themselves-- complicating our understanding of race relations in
the antebellum period.
A majority of the cases examined here were not appealed, nor did they create
important judicial precedent. Indeed, most of the cases ended at the county,
circuit, or district court level of various southern states. Yet the narratives
of both those who gained their freedom and those who failed to do so, and the
issues their suits raised, shed a bold and timely light on the history of race
and liberty in the "land of the free."
About the Author
ISBN 978-0190664282, Oxford University Press, © 2018,
Hardcover, 440 pages, Illustrations, Tables, Genealogy of the Boston Slave
Family ca.1686-1798, Appendix, Selected Bibliography, End Notes & Index.
$39.95. To purchase this book click HERE.
No comments:
Post a Comment