by mhayes | Aug 27, 2021 | Uncategorized
Following the Emancipation Proclamation and Sherman’s Special Field Orders #15 (known commonly by the phrase “40 acres and a mule” contained therein), tens of thousands of formerly enslaved people began establishing communities where they could build livelihoods for...
by mhayes | Aug 27, 2021 | Uncategorized
Kidada and acclaimed historian of photography Deborah Willis discuss the variety of stories we can take from photographs of Black Civil War soldiers and other African Americans during the era of Reconstruction, and look at how imagery can convey different information...
by mhayes | Aug 27, 2021 | Uncategorized
Finding and rebuilding families was one of the first steps Black Americans took toward social and political freedom following the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. But with families intentionally broken apart by the American slave system and no organized records of...
by mhayes | Aug 27, 2021 | Uncategorized
Kidada and Abigail discuss how African Americans built their own communities within Civil War refugee camps, as well as their relationship to African traditions and the introduction of Christianity by white missionaries. View Transcript Kidada Williams: Hi everyone,...
by mhayes | Aug 26, 2021 | Uncategorized
Prior to the Civil War, runaway slaves who were captured in Union territory would have been returned to their enslavers as a result of the Fugitive Slave Law. But a bold decision by a Union general in 1861 sanctioned the escape of freedom seekers into Union refugee...