Word by word : emancipation and the act of writing /
Word by word :: emancipation and the act of writing /

Consigned to illiteracy, American slaves left little record of their thoughts and feelings--or so we have believed. But a few learned to use pen and paper to make sense of their experiences, despite prohibitions. These authors' perspectives rewrite the history of emancipation and force us to re...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. Verfasser: Hager, Christopher, 1974-
Format: Elektronisch E-Book
Sprache:English
Veröffentlicht: Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2013.
Schlagworte:
To 1999
American literature > African American authors > History and criticism.
Authors, American > 19th century > Political and social views.
American literature > 19th century > History and criticism.
African Americans > Intellectual life > 20th century.
African American authors > Political and social views.
African Americans > Social conditions > To 1964.
Literature and society > United States.
African Americans > Civil rights.
African Americans in literature.
Enslaved persons > Emancipation > United States.
Écrivains américains > 19e siècle > Pensée politique et sociale.
Littérature américaine > 19e siècle > Histoire et critique.
Noirs américains > Vie intellectuelle > 20e siècle.
Écrivains noirs américains > Pensée politique et sociale.
Noirs américains > Conditions sociales > Jusqu'à 1964.
Littérature et société > États-Unis.
Noirs américains > Droits.
Noirs américains dans la littérature.
LITERARY CRITICISM > American > General.
HISTORY > United States > Civil War Period (1850-1877)
African American authors > Political and social views
African Americans > Civil rights
African Americans in literature
African Americans > Intellectual life
African Americans > Social conditions
American literature
American literature > African American authors
Authors, American > Political and social views
Literature and society
Enslaved persons > Emancipation
United States
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Zusammenfassung:Consigned to illiteracy, American slaves left little record of their thoughts and feelings--or so we have believed. But a few learned to use pen and paper to make sense of their experiences, despite prohibitions. These authors' perspectives rewrite the history of emancipation and force us to rethink the relationship between literacy and freedom.
One of the cruelest abuses of slavery in America was that slaves were forbidden to read and write. Consigned to illiteracy, they left no records of their thoughts and feelings apart from the few exceptional narratives of Frederick Douglass and others who escaped to the North--or so we have long believed. But as Christopher Hager reveals, a few enslaved African Americans managed to become literate in spite of all prohibitions, and during the halting years of emancipation, thousands more seized the chance to learn. The letters and diaries of these novice writers, unpolished and hesitant yet rich with voice, show ordinary black men and women across the South using pen and paper to make sense of their experiences. Through an unprecedented gathering of these forgotten writings--from letters by individuals sold away from their families, to petitions from freedmen in the army to their new leaders, to a New Orleans man's transcription of the Constitution--Word by Word rewrites the history of emancipation. The idiosyncrasies of these untutored authors, Hager argues, reveal the enormous difficulty of straddling the border between slave and free. These unusual texts, composed by people with a unique perspective on the written word, force us to rethink the relationship between literacy and freedom. For African Americans at the end of slavery, learning to write could be liberating and empowering, but putting their hard-won skill to use often proved arduous and daunting--a portent of the tenuousness of the freedom to come.
Beschreibung:1 online resource (311 pages)
Bibliographie:Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN:9780674067486
0674067487
0674070828
9780674070820

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