Voices Of Emancipation: Understanding Slavery, The Civil War, And Reconstruction Through The U.s. Pension Bureau Files
by Elizabeth A. Regosin /
2008 / English / PDF
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Voices of Emancipation
Voices of Emancipation seeks to recover the lives and
words of former slaves in vivid detail, mining the case files of
the U.S. Pension Bureau, which administered a huge pension system
for Union veterans and their survivors in the decades following
the Civil War. The files contain an invaluable, first-hand
perspective of slavery, emancipation, black military service, and
freedom. Moreover, as Pension Bureau examiners began interviewing
black Union veterans and their families shortly after the Civil
War, the files are arguably among the earliest sources of
ex-slaves reflecting on their lives, occurring decades before
better-known WPA Slave Narratives of the 1930s took place.
seeks to recover the lives and
words of former slaves in vivid detail, mining the case files of
the U.S. Pension Bureau, which administered a huge pension system
for Union veterans and their survivors in the decades following
the Civil War. The files contain an invaluable, first-hand
perspective of slavery, emancipation, black military service, and
freedom. Moreover, as Pension Bureau examiners began interviewing
black Union veterans and their families shortly after the Civil
War, the files are arguably among the earliest sources of
ex-slaves reflecting on their lives, occurring decades before
better-known WPA Slave Narratives of the 1930s took place.Voices of Emancipation
Voices of Emancipation explores the words of former slaves
topically, beginning with recollections of slavery, moving on to
experiences of military service in the Civil War, the transition
to freedom, and finally to reflections on marriage and family
before and after emancipation. With an introduction that places
the pension files in context and presents the themes of the book,
and historical commentary interwoven throughout the excerpts of
the interviews themselves, Elizabeth A. Regosin and Donald R.
Shaffer effectively introduce the files and the treasures they
contain to students and general readers, but also provide
specialists with an indispensable research tool.
explores the words of former slaves
topically, beginning with recollections of slavery, moving on to
experiences of military service in the Civil War, the transition
to freedom, and finally to reflections on marriage and family
before and after emancipation. With an introduction that places
the pension files in context and presents the themes of the book,
and historical commentary interwoven throughout the excerpts of
the interviews themselves, Elizabeth A. Regosin and Donald R.
Shaffer effectively introduce the files and the treasures they
contain to students and general readers, but also provide
specialists with an indispensable research tool.