From digital humanities, digitalization, hot gas, historical fiction, public history. Remember when i said earlier about our speakers commitment to mentorship and to education. She is the author of essays published in 2018 and 19 on the civil war, transformation of american citizenship and new perspectives of the union war. As i was preparing this introduction with her work in the flagship journal a part of a round table discussion of the views on revision isnt. And the boundaries of freedom in washington, d. C. Is now under contract, i am pleased to say, explaining how black women in the Nations Capital made claims to liberty during the civil war. The program today free women, mobilizing emancipation and citizenship in wartime washington, d. C. It is from that work that the program today is derived. Free women mobilizing and self making in wartime deeds washington d. C. Ladies and gentlemen, tamika nunley. [applause] thank you. Good afternoon. I should thank you extra, because it is after lunch, late in the afternoon and you are still here. So thank you very much. Thank you to john coski and the staff at the American Civil War museum for the invitation to share my work, and for organizing and hosting such an exciting symposium. Its been a pleasure to get to know some of you all and also members of the museum. I want to kind of preface my talk by saying that sometimes works like mine are accused of being pessimistic, so it like to kind of say i didnt go into the archives looking for trouble. [laughter] but i found some very fascinating, interesting letters and claims and i thought they were worth discussing, and it kind of contextualizes and changes the conversation that we have about the civil war, and i am good with that. Im ok with that. If you accuse me of being a pessimist, ok, thats fine. I will go ahead and proceed with my talk. My work on enslaved women during the civil war is largely concentrated in washington, d. C. Archival sources not only show how freed women responded to the war, but sources show how decisions made in washington map onto the experiences of African American women more broadly throughout the chesapeake. Today i offer a few phoenix some of which appears in my forthcoming book the threshold of liberty and others i examined more recently during a trip to these archives here in december. Each vignette reveals africanamerican women as a whole did not respond homogenously to the conditions war brought. They envision lives and a new i confronted difference challenges that came with the war, and express their frustrations when change did not come to them fast enough. What we see is a tapestry of perspectives that reveal the complexity of enslaved womens experiences during the war. Most of the scholarship examines the reaction of enslaved women by whether or not they fled or remained on plantations or in households in which they lived prior to the war. I would argue however, that this dichotomy between those who fled to the union army or remained where they were oversimplifies the complexity of enslaved womens experiences during the war. And so, i think this is kind of important, because the way i learned about the war and the role of africanamericans, there is a war happening and then the emancipation proclamation happens, and then somehow africanamericans in the Confederate States are freed. Its sort of legislation driving the narrative of emancipation and how we understand that. That happened, but more things also happened. Even as the war shifted conditions in favor of emancipation, the struggle to become free, or even retaliate against former owners, looked different for enslaved women depending on the region, the side of bondage, the governing and legislative bodies that ruled those territories, and the behavior of soldiers and civilians within the vicinity. As the war progressed, soldiers, officials and legislatures legislators empowered by law and legislation, helped usher in the process of emancipation. Refugee women took steps necessary to secure their freedom while prompting a social contract between themselves and the government. At various moments, they made a series of negotiations with federal officials, and in other instances, especially when the law was not on their side, they took action of their own volition. They expressed their own understanding of the rights. Furthermore, black women refugees articulated the claims entitled to a free person, and therefore initiated the process through which they transitioned from the status of enslaved to breed women and from freed women to american citizens. This process of self actualization, or self making as i turn it, reflected long held beliefs about liberty held among black women during the war. In their self making, black women reacted to the development of war in a variety of ways and navigated the complex legal terrain that dictated the terms of bondage and freedom in washington, virginia and in maryland. Historians of aptly noted that the outcomes of the war were incredibly contingent and black womens wartime navigation of the shifting policies of the government solidify this point. The displacement caused by the war shaped the ways that refugee women traveled to the Nations Capital in search for loved ones, shelter, clothing, medical care and employment. Historian sciandro manning referred to this experience as troubled refuge. They remind us that they weve barely touched the surface of the degree of suffering experienced by enslaved women and children during the war. Those who became legally freed by wartime emancipation measures still struggle to realize the rights to their own labor, and found conditions in the capital precarious at best. The emancipation process in washington d. C. Involved a series of critical policies instituted under martial law and enacted in congress. These include, and are worth noting because it demonstrates that these laws involve process, right . The first confiscation act in 1861, the d. C. Emancipation act of 1862, the supplemental act of 1862, the second confiscation act of 1862, the emancipation proclamation of 1863 and the repeal of the fugitive slave law in 1864. Many laws later, all slaves eventually become free, right . This complicated sequence of policy changes had varying impacts on the lives of black women, particularly those arriving from neighboring slave Holding States. Nestled between the confederate territory in virginia and the loyal slave state of maryland, wartime policy in the district created Uncertain Terms of liberty that black women struggled to decode. In the spring of 1862, Congress Approved the terms of rain just over 3000 enslaved people in the Nations Capital. The abolishment of slavery in washington legally set in motion the emancipation process, making the violation of this emancipation act a felony and incentivizing complaints within the new order through compensation for each enslaved president freed. Slave holders applying for compensation were offered a specific amount of money determined by the assessed value of each enslaved person, which at times exceeded 300 dollars allotted by the measure. The shift away from chattel slavery and the property disputes that ensued disrupted the social fabric of the chesapeake. Black women stood ready for the possibilities, but legislators remained unsure as they cautiously entertain the prospects of emancipation with broader implications in mind. So, then yet one, the board of commissioners. On may 29th, 1862, and enslaved girl named maria submitted a petition for hurt freedom. Although the slave holder applied for compensation for marias mother and father, who are sided with him in the district, he declared that maria was not buried by the act at all. He argued that, because maria had been hired out or rented out to a man just outside of the district, the new law did not apply to her. While scholars have argued that the hiring out system of enslavement and undermined slavery, particularly in urban areas, in this case it preserved the institution by drawing upon its chesapeake origins. The board of commissioners for the emancipation of slaves and the District Of Columbia opened that, quote, all who are out of the district when the bill was approved do not come within its provisions and are consequently slaves still, and quote. Thus, maria remained enslaved for the duration of the war. Because of the hiring out system, marias owner not only receive compensation for her parents, but found a way to invalidate her own claims to freedom. The former slave holder still held the reins and his Property Rights were protected accordingly. In another case that appeared in the records of the board of commissioners on december 16th, 1862, emily wedge filed petitions on behalf of herself, her two children, and her sister alice thomas, who were all enslaved on a property belonging to alexander mccormack. Mccormack refused to take advantage of the compensation provision of the new law when it took effect, but emily saw an opportunity. He reluctantly appeared before the clerk of the court after receipt of a summons. According to the records, mccormack quote, the night the constitutionality of the emancipation act, and said he would biden is time until it was declared unconstitutional, and quote. Besides, he was a citizen with rights to property, and why would anyone take seriously the claims made by enslaved women at this point in the war . Just before his case was decided, mccormack repaired before the court and commissioners of the district and, for the first time, formerly contended with emilys liberty claims. In this case, emancipation threatened the Property Rights of slave holders and excluded residents more generally from any democratic processes the decided the slate the fate of slavery in washington. The facts of her case exposed the unique geography washington d. C. In the surrounding counties. She contended the supplemental act passed in the summer of 1862 permitted in slave women in the District Of Columbia to testify against white men and women for the first time. Regarding the actual case, evidence showed that mccormick s farmers located along the border dividing the district from maryland, and that just one day after the emancipation act became law, he instructed the slaves to reside on the maryland side of his property. According to the records of the board of commissioners, he built a small tenement for them on the maryland side, while his main quarters or made in washington as well as the captain and other buildings on the homestead. One mccormack that was proven that alice was required to drive pasture from the cap in, which was located in the boundaries of the Nations Capital. And identified witnesses also testified that they had seen the women and children and mccormicks Washington Home daily, and for approximately seven or eight weeks, emily and her family had resided in the district with an older man also bearing the same last name wedge, we happen to be the father of emilys husband. They ultimately recognized her claim to recognize freedom through the emancipation act. So how could they testify against slave older in this new regime . The logistical issues prize presented by resistance the emancipation acted led to the supplements in active july 12, 1862, which set forth the terms under which inflight women claim free status even in instances when a former owner refused to apply for compensation. The supplemental act stated, moreover, quote, in all judicial pretty proceedings in the District Of Columbia, there shall be no exclusion of any witness on account of color, and quote. The stipulation which permitted enslaved people and refugees to testify against white people was the distinctive feature of the supplemental act. The reason why i point out is because we cannot really understand the d. C. Emancipation act of 1862 without really understanding supplemental act and how it sort of helped complete that process of emancipation in d. C. Slave testimony would be critical in the efforts of black women and men to counter white arguments that they were not residents of the district, or that they had unlawfully claimed entitlement to the terms of the act. For the first time in the history of the Nations Capital, and slave women could speak in their own defense. They could testify against white men and women in court. This amended version of the emancipation act offered a more expensive needs to claim freedom. The new legal measures, however, clash with existing laws and surrounding counties. Depending on whether the laws of the confederacy where the union applied, black women traveling from slave Holding States could be considered in slaved, even as wartime emancipation took its course. For instance, the fugitive slave law of 1850 stipulated that fugitives must be returned and that penalties should be imposed upon officials in locals who use refuse to return them. Therefore, while thousands of enslaved women made their way to the district from loyal sleigh folding states like maryland and delaware, they claimed freedom illegally even after local emancipation and the abolishment of the black codes, the courts in washington d. C. Enforced fugitive slave laws on behalf of owners resigning in states that professed loyalty to the union. Why Property Rights were not antithetical to the aims of the union. Secession was. Competing legal priorities made life complicated for enslaved women who hoped to claim freedom. Thus, black women remained in the state of legal limbo as the navigated wartime policy created in the interests of states loyal to the union and against the interest of those in the confederacy. The geopolitical borders of the chesapeake could either undermine or work in favor of black womens navigation of wartime transformations. Second vignette, contraband camps. Refugee women who arrived in the capital during the civil war confronted various dimensions of uncertainty. Some great women travel to encampments of refugees supervised by military personnel. These camps were referred to as quote unquote, contraband camps. Camps appeared at the greens right near the capitol and masons island, currently roosevelt island, where the first u. S. Colored troops trained in 1863. Friedmans village on robert ease confiscated estate in arlington, virginia, house approximately 1500 former slaves in 100 family homes. The village was known for the roger Large Population of women, children and elders frequently depicted as dependents of the government. Dependence as a term, contrasted ideas about liberty and citizenship, and refugees were regarded as a burden to the government and the military. Government officials envision the camp is only a temporary community and hope to make Employment Arrangements with white families in need of additional labor in the north. The communities, however, the cultivated gardens, spurred wages, built homes, sold clothing and built a school for children hospital. When offered a refuge from violence neck and exploitation, many freed people made plans to work in developed lens for themselves and their families. Residents in the village however felt that they had created Sustainable Living conditions that allow them to experience the privileges of citizenship. Contrasting really, just across the potomac, between 12 and cute streets, kept parker appeared comparatively different then friedmans village and look more like a tent city with higher mortality rates and an instant monetary living conditions. In 1864, when officials decided to move residents of cant parker to friedmans village, only 120 agreed to move while the remaining 685 refused to set foot on the slave holding territories. That just gives you perspective on how free people thought of virginia even though friedmans village was a better camp. Charged anywhere from five and eight dollars four months for damp and cold shacks exposed to the in climate winters in the district, black women during the war found it difficult to earn a sufficient living and keep themselves and their families healthy. Many black children lost both parents during the war, or were forced to rely upon overcrowded orphanages or their closest relatives as they fought to survive. Theyre struggle their struggle for survival often ended in death. In 1864, as officials evicted people from canned parker, one mother was forced to leave the premises as her grandson was dying beside her. The grandmother who had taken care of the grandson since his mothers death begged lee to stay until the child died, but she was refused, and quote. Camp barker, a contraband camp organized by the government to house unemployed refugees who escaped from confederate territory, thus served as an outpost not only of freedom, but also a frailty. For instance, george and will its, a missionary work at camp barker observed that, in 1864, quote, there is now some suffering, but it is chiefly amongst the women who have small children. These can barely obtain the necessarys of life, and quote. The traumas of war imperiled black women in particular to precarious conditions as many of them were charged with carrying for young and elderly skin. Like many wars, Women Associated with poverty and particularly black women were also vulnerable to sexual violence, as we learned with lizzy shorter. Their treatment, at times, reflected the view of a country shaped by a view of womens bodies as chattel, disposable. And the emancipation wartime policies, refugees flock to union lines seeking asylum in opportunities to claim families and find work in sustainable communities built by freed men and women. Contraband camps function and military intermediaries of the Union Government that provided much needed assistance, but also at times subjected refugee women to condition similar to that of slavery. Contraband cans could be saturated with habits and customs that merely reminded black women that, for the moment, emancipation remained incomplete. The story of one black woman, Lucy Ellen Johnson, is illuminating. Upon arrival at camp barker, johnson understood that she was supposed to work in the camp and, quote, turn my food and clothing like other contrabands, and quote. She moved into the camp with her mother while her husband work for the union army. In fact, prior to her a viable, she worked as a chambermaid on a steamboat ship showing a history of employment. Shortly after arriving at cant park it, johnson had become ill and unable to perform her responsibilities. When she asked for rations, a blanket and like it clothing, she was interrogated by a mr. Nichols, the official at camp barker who distributed supplies. Nichols could not understand why johnsons husband and not provided for her, but johnson pleaded, quote, i am here to earn my board and the same clothes that others have, and quote. She offered to request money from her husband so that she could pay for the needed items, but nichols responded quote, you cannot buy them from me, you cannot buy anything, and quote. Nichols clearly despised johnson and resented what he perceived as her dependence upon the government. Johnson argued that if her arrangements at the camp were problematic then nickel should have spoken to her husband about the matter so that she could find work elsewhere. Nichols became angry and ordered johnson to a room where she was pinned out harassed by Corporal Sergeant and soldiers. The gang of man tucker took it to a tent where they grabbed her and grab your by the throat. She said they fasten a rope around my two thumbs raise me fastened a rope and passed me over the limb of a tree so my weight was suspended by my thumbs. To prolong the torture, they hung her by her wrist. In this position johnson recalls one kick me another hit my. Throat after half hour of torture she was finally released. According to one assessment, more than 30 people file testimonies regarding abusive treatment at camp parker. Still is of those of Lucy Ellen Johnson remind of white contempt during the lead moment of legal get emancipation. Stories like this are vivid reminders of the violent undercurrent during moments of legal emancipation. The contempt for refugee women who migrated to the Nations Capital manifested in a variety of forms from abuse at contraband camps to violence from the public. The fact that refugee women made it to the union lines did not guarantee support from military and government officials. So much of their experiences were informed by the temperament and attitudes of those in position to wield the power of the federal government. As johnson story tells us, legislation alone could not secure liberty and protection for African American women. The third rigging at g8 virginia. In february, 1864 fanny and in slave women and state belonging to must of her news from afar on the developments of the. War she now lived within the legal jurisdiction of the Confederate States of america, and the court fixture value at 800 dollars. This was no small figure in antebellum words in terms. But in the csa, this amount was significant if not. Inflated moreover just as washington, d. C. Was the citadel of the union, richmond where fanny, live became the stronghold of the confederacy. She undoubtedly learned of the advancements made by the army of Northern Virginia at the beginning of the war, and the neighboring battles. Word of emancipation in the District Of Columbia certainly spread among enslaved women in richmond, and yet they waited in the grip of bondage where antebellum laws remained and demands where ever present in their daytoday lives. In 1864, emancipatory transformation seemed to unfold everywhere but richmond. And much to john kerrys dismay, fanny set one of the buildings of the estate on fire. Arson occurred regularly before the war. But at a time when locals struggled to overcome increasingly depleted resources, these alleged actions exacerbated existing tensions with the confederacy. Her testimony is absent in the historical record, but we can infer a number of motivations. To begin, it is possible fanny was not the culprit, or if she was that it was an accident. The scholarship on slave resistance however confirms the persistence of intentional act of arson by committed by enslaved people, particularly during times of war. While the court had an issue of issuing clemency cases when the governor deemed it appropriate, we see fewer instances of leniency during the war. As a result, fanny received a sentence of sale and transportation beyond the limits of the csa. Interestingly, she was purchased at a sum of 800 by the state penitentiary and remained there for the duration of the war. Her experience reveals the ways enslaved women might find themselves confined within the bastion of confederate territory with limited resources beyond geographically contained retaliation. Later that year, the governor commuted the sentence of an enslaved woman accused of arson. Jane, an enslaved woman in virginia, plead not guilty for setting ablaze the home of her owner, and received a sentence of death by hanging. The governor however commuted the sentence to sale and transportation outside the limits of csa. In the penitentiary in virginia, purchased at the exorbitant sum of 2000, not surprising considering the currency inflation toward the close of the war. By 1864, enslaved women learned how wartime the desolation freed thousands of former slaves and how union armies increasingly encroached on southern territories and brought news of emancipation. But for these women who lived within the final stronghold of lees army and the seat of the confederate government, freedom did not appear in reach. Even if it did in view. Fanny and janes experiences illuminate the ways reactions to the war could be circumscribed by varying conditions of war and legal customs of sovereign nations which were complex in another themselves. For some, reaching union lines could be nearly impossible, or came with its own challenges. Refugee women who escaped confederate territory did not simply do so because the emancipation proclamation gave them an disputable authority to do so. Instead, they evaded detection of confederate troops and fought nearby residents willing to expose them. Wartime emancipation sparked violent backlash among regional boundaries from those who maintained the view that africanamericans burdened the nation and by every means should be returned to slavery or relegated to secondclass citizenship. During the war and towards its end, maryland remained a point of contention for refugee women and slaveholders even after the state adopted a new constitution banning the practice of slavery. The fourth of vignette maryland. On 1864, just days prior to the new article of the constitution of maryland making slavery and legal, a woman sent a letter saying that her owner dr. As us use treated me badly, and this was my principal object of leaving. They informed me Abraham Lincoln could not free me and had no right to do so. Along with slavery, much of the maryland codes oh no longer in effect, but the constitution made leaving an employer a punishable crime for black marylanders. Free women struggled not only to realize liberty for themselves, but for children and family members. Countless cases of child abduction emerged after the war as southerners made efforts to reconstitute their labor force. Thus a provision intended to inaugurate a free labor system in maryland actually catalyzed the corrupt system of childhood abduction and labor exportation. Freed women made the case for parental rights. The apprenticeship system of maryland involved a convoluted collaboration between former slaveholders and corrupt justice. Committed to the order of the old south. The marshal of the District Of ColumbiaAndrew Stafford observed, just days after the adoption of the new constitution, a rush was made to the Orphans Court of this county for the purpose of having all children under 21 bound to their former owners under the apprentice law. The apprenticeship arrangements were validated by local judges, who typically decided in favor of the former master and determined black parents were unfit to financially provide for their child, particularly where the father was away at work or war and could not directly claim the childs labor. In maryland, decisions of the court reflected a racial and gendered hierarchy that prioritized interests of whites first and then if at all black men as heads of household before black mothers. Reminiscent of the plantation, the courts often reinforced white power and paternalism to decide the fate of black families. Although the labor of all household members were critical to subsistence in the 19th century, local justices often refused to acknowledge the rights of black parents to protect the labor of their children. The judges and supported apprenticeship, as parents searched for children and attempted to claim guardianship rights, facing threats and intimidation from former owners. In many instances, slaveholders hope to entice parents to remain on the farm by withholding the children. As a result, black women sometimes took matters into their own hands to retrieve their children from the grips planter exploitation and create a life where they could enjoy the fruit of their own labours. One woman who formally belong to William Townsend of talbert county reportedly told him of my having become me and desiring my master to give my children and my bedclothes. He told me i was free but that my children should be bound to him. She testified further he locked my children up so i could not find them. I afterwards got my children myself and brought them to baltimore. Like many other freed women, she rest her life to save her children from on consented apprenticeship. She concluded her statement saying quote my master pursued me to the boat to get possession of my children, but i hid them. Her story reveals the Union Government made the freedom of black women and children lawful, but not always tangible. Even with the freedom rights gained from the war, black women continued the work of resitu waiting there relationship between themselves, government and the communities in which they lived. Freed women navigated the geopolitical terrain as strategically as possible to avoid manipulative slaveholders or exploited work conditions in the north. The path to liberty and selfmaking could be isolating in the absence of trustworthy allies. The assistance and exposure to Community Resources found in local churches, schools and relief organizations supported the transition from slavery. The government played an unprecedented role in the affairs of freed people. Founded in 1865, the bureau of refugees, freedmen and abandoned land employed commissioners for the who commenced the complicated work of connecting people to family law numbers, jobs and homes in the case of orphans. John eaton was assistant commissioner for the District Of Columbia, and corresponded with black women from maryland and virginia. In one letter, eaton instructed a military captain to visit freed people to find out about conditions of labor, find out where more labor is demanded and give those idling around the city opportunity to support themselves free from the vices and diseases likely to arise from spending time in idleness. Eatons order is riddled with stereotypes, but he made clear that their duties required of them to investigate all cases of destitution and provide food, clothing and medicine and medicinal attention, medical attention. The bureau divided the capital into districts, led by northern volunteers mostly women and those working for the commissioner. They sent volunteers to georgetown, and arranged for roughly 150 women to attend industrial schools throughout the country to work in education. General Oliver Otis Howard charged eaton and other commissioners appointed throughout maryland and virginia with determined as task of serving as the liaison between the federal government, white southerners and freed people. Assistant commissioners carried out a number of orders that varied on a casebycase basis. Black women at times corresponded with sympathetic Bureau Officials and at times dealt with those who were less helpful, even resentful. Among many responsibilities, agents answered questions about family members address labor disputes unsupervised placement of refugee women in jobs and homes. Eaton sent agents to local counties to secure employment prospects for black girls, who were particularly in demand for jobs as domestic servants, with duties ranging from cooking, cleaning, washing, nursing and serving as an attendant for women and children. For black women unfamiliar with communities that demanded the labor, eaton responded to their queries. Agents of the Freedmens Bureau for black women, correspondence with eaton provided muchneeded information about the whereabouts of places like maryland. During the war, the chief quartermaster of the department of washington secured employment for refugees arriving in the capital. This often involved placing children in the homes of strangers. Freedom proved to be an isolating experience for young black girls and boys after the war. Those who made it to the capital were either hired out in nearby maryland or sent from washington to cities like baltimore, philadelphia and new york. Eaton wrote to one woman who hired a young girl named isabella. Isabellas relatives contacted the assistant commissioner to learn of her residence and reach her at her new place of employment. In another letter addressed to a lawyer in philadelphia, eaton inquired after a young girl named cornelia robinson. He noted her family expressed concern about her whereabouts and wanted to make contact. Arrangements to send black girls in particular to northern cities without consent of the family members. In many cases, they were preferable to immigrant laborers and were regarded as more appealing sources of labor. The idea of black women and girls as ideal servants found itself in antebellum ideas of slavery and ideas associated with domestic work. Thmany willingly employed them, despite objections from parents. The letters went beyond inquiries. In many instances, mothers and fathers hope to use correspondence to authorize retrieval of their children. Liberty for freed women meant recognizing legal guardianship over their children, a Novel Concept after centuries of chattel slavery. By the end of the war, children found themselves separated from loved ones and thrown in labor arrangements without their consent. Locals and agents at times questioned the parenting abilities of black mothers, which further, kid complicated efforts to claim their children. Catherine greens children worked on separate farms in southeast virginia. She requested to even roy she ea requested eaton right to the people who hired them to demonstrate she had Legal Authority to possess her children. Similarly, Savannah Johnson reached eaton in search of her 10yearold daughter, phyllis. In one letter, eaton stipulated since phyllis was not legally bound with consent of her mother in the possible case of violence or resistance that Savannah Johnson was authorized to call upon the nearest military authority for assistance. A few days later, eaton sent another letter requesting release of the sevenyearold boy named jackson. Jacksons mother adeline asked eaton for assistance. Women like divine did not relent so easily to the request of the assistant commissioners. The following month, even sent another letter with the same request stating that we deem it our duty to have do all that we can legally to reunite families that were separated under the old system of slavery. The customs of the quote unquote, old system of slavery proved hard to break in the region, even with assistance from the friedman bureau. Patsy berlin attempted to recover her mother along with her four sisters from a mr. Garnet near french fredericksburg virginia. They noted that garnet starve them and they are working for this former owner without compensation. Even sent correspondents fredericksburg studying, i would respectfully recommend this statement be recommended to the officer in charge of the district for investigation for the question of any abuses, unquote. While the treatment of former slaves remained unchanged, the assistant commissioners willingness to intervene and prioritize the testimony of a black woman demonstrates that freed women initiated a transformation in the relationship between themselves and the government. In order for liberty to translate in the lives of great women, they had to articulate their preferred terms of labour for themselves and their families and wield authorization given by officials like eaton. They were engaged in both personal and political processes of self making. A black woman who sent letters to eaton applied gendered norms and their appeals to the federal government. For them, liberty implied the obligations of the government to the citizens, and particularly those who subscribe to acceptable gender norms to secure that liberty. Black women and treated officials to intervene with the realities of their lives and loved ones conflicted with the entitlements of independent households. One woman, mary, requested that 18 right on our behalf as she retrieved her daughter, mary agonies from maryland. In that letter, he stipulated that, quote, she acts with the advice, authority and consent of her husband. The father of the said merry agonies, and so has full authority to bring her daughter home. No person or persons will interfere with her lawful act for this purpose in any officers of the army. So she may be so situated as to eight her, and quote. Agony is called upon the hierarchies of patriarchy to reinforce her claims to her daughters since eaton made reference to the consent of her husband authorized retrieval. Furthermore, the presence of the military provided another motivation to enforce compliance with the order. So these are just a sampling of hundreds and thousands of letters to the bureau agents. Many of these women are kind of calling upon the right to be independent households, subsistence households that formed their own land. But in order to do that, they need the family members to be reunited. Black women and capital approached eaten with the expectation of advocacy as they faced off with resistant southerners with both a written endorsement and military support in the event of disputes. Million hansen contacted the bureau to see camp in retrieving her two sons, charles and israel. Should they resist her claims to her children, even stipulated that she is authorized to call upon the nearest military authorities for assistance. In another case, soviet smith requested assistance in securing her children from a mrs. Loosened it dotson. And similarly, eaton wrote to dotson stating that, because you refused to allow them to come to her, that soviet smith is fully authorized and backed by the military. Right queen, the grandmother 12 year old kitty, complained that Charles Mills quote, refused to give the child up to her, and quote. Eaton made clear that he recognized mary queen as the quote, rifle protector, as the father and mother of the child are both at, and quote. Bureau and military officials functioned as federal liaisons in the transition to freedom as black women called upon their authority to recover loved ones from the bondage. This correspondents reminds us that not every orphan was truly an orphan. Even as children lost their parents, guardians and can appeal to the borough to intervene on their behalf. So the final vignette back in d. C. Black women not only attempted to seek the release of loved ones from planters that exploited the labours of can, but they also sought to discharge loved ones confined in jails. And slave pens during the war. A release from prison and pants it could take up to a year or two after the war ended. One person petition on the behalf of jon jones, caleb coats, and caleb day, black man who received convictions for aiding slaves in an escape that took place in 1863. Convicted the same year that president lincoln issued the emancipation proclamation, slavery still prevailed in the union and free and enslaved black people continue to disentangle themselves from the old legal regime. The refugees likely came from union territory, perhaps maryland or delaware, since the police regularly house right fugitives in the city jail. Sentenced to 11 years in prison, doula and jones came to jon jones hope to appeal to the bureau for the release. Well after states legally recognized emancipation, the convicted man had already served two years when jones submitted the inquiry in 1865. He didnt realize these previous verdicts based on slave laws and a black codes post a problem by the end of the war when slavery became illegal. Except in instances of criminal convictions. He pleaded with the governors of maryland and virginia to ensure that those confined violation of the fugitive slave loss or any slave codes be granted pardon. In the capital, he wrote to president Andrew Johnson requesting a pardon for 13yearold boy named beverley mccaul. Mccauls mother who quote, appears like an industrious, intelligent colored women of good character, where the and competent to provide for her son, and quote, made eaten aware of the two year sentence in the penitentiary. The court charged beverley with theft. Eaton learned the union army brought him to the capital from nearby fredericksburg. In his possession, beverley held a breast pin valued at 40 dollars. Condemned and, quote, confined with hardened criminals, and quote, the mother pleaded for her sons release. Eaton informed the president that he believed beverleys mother could quote, train him to virtue and usefulness as a citizen, and quote. Young boys and girls and women and men who ran into legal trouble throughout the war not only found themselves in the city jails, but also in the work houses serving long sentences or working or living in sleigh fans as late as the winter of 1866. Life in the chesapeake presented an array of social, legal and economic hurdles that underscored the barriers that freed women confronted in an era of emancipation. To begin, those new to the city struggle to secure employment free of exploitation. One report appeared of a man named cecil who regularly approached free people with the purpose of hiring them out to farms in maryland. Described as an older man of medium size with gray hair, planters paid him a hefty commission for securing laborers in the neighboring counties. The planter deducted the commission from the wages the friedman earned, leaving them little to nothing for their hard work. The bureau investigated this scheme and discovered the whole operation and new jersey avenue in washington d. C. People in the district faced vulnerabilities to exploit were conditions, but the destitution that drove refugees into such labor arrangements prove even more menacing. Countless letters arrived in local Bureau Offices reporting scores of families played with poverty, starvation and disease. One bureau agent reported that several groups of refugees hired out to labor for wages arrived in the forums infected with smallpox and other infectious diseases. Volunteers from the bureau set out to provide rations and investigate their conditions further. Agents made their way to streets where black families erected shanties between tenth and 11th street. The makeshift homes proved far from sufficient in providing adequate shelter in the bitter cold of february in 1866. Communities of black families cramped in the always in rear of the main thoroughfares experienced harsh conditions, even as agents of these even as the agents provided these neighborhoods with relief when provisions became available. Indeed, families huddled on virginia avenue between first and second streets were found in destitute condition at the beginning of winter, which is when many families were found in destitute conditions. Even those that reside in the district prior to the war found their resources depleted by wartime conditions. Mary johnson, born every black woman in the capital, lived on a street. The agents found her living in destitution despite the fact that her husband work for the union military. Freedom demand in that African Americans first survive the existences and devastations of war. To conclude, the Union Government altered the possibilities for liberty through legislation, but the refugee women in this top put those policies to the test during and after the civil war. The chances are becoming free were greater where the Union Government and military wielded authority and corresponding officials acted in accordance with ongoing legal transformations. But even under the circumstances, enslaved refugee, fugitive and freed women were not shielded from abuse and violent backlash. Black women and men, as well as government officials even employed the term citizen to describe African Americans and refugees at the moment of wartime emancipation. This is something that sciandro manning talks about in her work. But overstating this fact however wrongly suggests that all white unionists extended to refugees an invitation to share equally in the rights of american citizenship. Republican support and military authorization of emancipation did not always translate into the lives of black women, but they continued well after the American Civil War to forge a social contract between themselves and the federal government. The emphasis on the actions of Union Authorities often obscures freed women struggles to define the terms of their inclusion. The process of realizing and navigating liberty reflected a more collaborative than patronizing process. This doesnt mean they did not appeal to soldiers, federal authorities or even call upon 19th century gender norms. They strategically navigated a change in government and society to help make legislation a reality for themselves. Black women challenged the notion that liberty stop that legal emancipation. Using tactics such as flight in appeals and petitions to the government, black women found can, shelter, food, jobs and support for survival. The war and the prospect of emancipation presented opportunities for these women to imagine and act upon visions of themselves. As lawmakers and enacted the legislation that ended centuries of chattel slavery, black women and men also decided for themselves their own future in the country where they fought and they toiled and they lived. Thank you. [applause] we have about ten minutes for questions. So once again, raise your hand and the microphone will come to you. Thanks very much for that. I have two quick questions. Actually, i want to ramble on so i wrote them down. Like led zeppelin on their second album. So thinking about place, we had a conversation last night about place, a sense of place that is obviously tied up. Have you done any research in finding the actual sites now . Is there any sort of memory legalization in the district or nor virginia sites other than at arlington. Of both the camps and the places that you specifically talk about with you research. The second thing, also speaking place, have you done any sort of contrasting of the experience, the city experience of freed women in d. C. Versus baltimore, with their proximity, but of course very different political nature. Thank. You thank you for your question. In terms of place, we obviously have robert e. Lees estate which does a fairly good job of acknowledging of friedmans village. In this part of the top. There are some other camps that i think the Anacostia Library does a very fine job of looking at and kind of recording some of that work. Also, the churches, the ame changes in d. C. Do a really great job of kind of remembering and understanding African American experience is in the district. So i think that there certainly is an effort to do that and i think its going to it has been a fine effort thus far. But as we see, there are so many ways that you can sort of marketplace and understand it. In terms of your second question. Yes, in the book project i have a chapter on black girls and schools. Its really fascinating because there are these schools for black girls that emerge kind of leading into the war. The mayor of washington kind of gets really worked up about it. He basically says that the schools for black girls are a threat to the union, which sounds like, it feels hyperbolic. It just goes to show the kind of work, the building that African American communities and white allies were doing in the district to kind of make space for liberty and self making in ways that were really successful leading into the war and during the war as well. We see counterparts of those schools, particularly run by the Catholic Church and the orders of black nuns in baltimore as well. So there are so many very different stories which i hope that my talked captured. Their moments, it emancipation works and works really well. Because of the help that they are able to solicit from authorities and from military officials, and then sometimes it really doesnt and it really just depends on the place and the people who are acting alongside these women. Thank you for your question. I have a couple of questions. First of all, i am struck by the term contraband camp. Yeah. Is that. Im assuming that relate somehow to