Her mas and ph. D. At the university of virginia. She has created the history design lab that allows students to develop scholarly projects that range from digital humanities, exhibit design, oral history, podcast, historical fiction, and public history. Remember what i said about our speakers and their commitment to mentorship and to education. Shes the author of essays published in 2018 and 19 in the civil war and the transformation of american citizenship and new perspectives on the union war. As i was preparing this introduction, i read her work in civil war histories as part of a round table discussion. Her book mentioned in your printed program at the threshold of liberty, womens laslavery i now under contract with unc press. It examines how black women used the laws, geography and Community Networks at the Nations Capital to make claims to liberty during the civil war. Ladies and gentlemen, tamika nunley. [ applause ] thank you. Good afternoon and i should thank you extra because it is after lunch, late in the afternoon. And you are still here. And so thank you very much. Thank you so john coski and the staff at the American Civil War museum for the invitation to share my work and for organizing and hosting an exciting symposium. Its been a pleasure to get to know some of you all and some of the members of the museum. I want to kind of preface my talk saying sometimes work like mine is accused of being pessimistic. I want to say i didnt go into the archive looking for trouble. I found fascinating, interesting letters and claims and i thought that they were worth discussing and it kind of contextualizes and changes the kind of conversation that we have about the civil war and im good with that. Im okay with that. And so if you accuse me of beings a pessimist, ill say, okay, thats fine. Ill go ahead and proceed with my talk. My work on enslaved women during the civil war is largely concentrated in washington, d. C. And the sources reveal the ways frooed women respond today the war, but the sources show how decisions made in washington map onto the experiences of africanamerican women more broadly throughout the chesapeake. Today i offer a few vignettes, some of which appear in my forthcoming book and others which i examined more recently, actually, during a trip to these archives here in december. Each vignette reveals that africanamerican women as a whole did not respond to the conditions that wore brought. They envisioned lives and selves and expressed frustration when change did not come fast enough. What we see is a tapestry of perspectives that reveal the complexities of enslaved womens experience during the war. Most of the scholarship examines the reaction of enslaved women about whether or not they fled or remained in plantations 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 that ive learned about the war and the role of africanamericans is that theres a war happening and then the emancipation proclamation happens and then somehow africanamericans in the Confederate States are freed. And its its sort of legislation kind of driving the narrative of emancipation and how we understand that. And that happens, but more things also happen. Even as the war shifted, conditions in favor of emancipation, the struggle to become free looked different for enslaved women depending on the region, the site of bondage, the governing bodies and the behavior of soldiers and civilians within the vicinity. As the war progressed, soldiers, officials and legislators 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. They made a series of negotiations with federal officials and in other instances they took action on their own. They expressed their own understandings of their rights. Furthermore, black women articulated the claims for a free person. And they transitioned from the status of enslaved, to frooeed women and to american citizen. It reflected longheld believes about liberty among black women during the war in their selfmaking black women reacted to the developments of war in a variety of ways and navigated the complex legal terrain that dictated the terms of bondage in washington, virginia and maryland. Historians have noted that the outcomes of the war were contingent and the navigation of the shifting policies of the government solidify this point. The displacement caused by the war shaped the ways that women travel to the Nations Capital and searched for loved ones and employment. Weve barely touched the surface. Those who became legally freed by wartime emancipation measures struggled 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 i think theyre worth noting because it demonstrates that this these laws involve a process, right . The first confiscation act in 1861, the d. C. Emancipation act in 1962, the second confiscation act of 1862. The emancipation proclamation and the repeal of the fugitive slay law in 1864. 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 slaveholding states. Nestled between the confederate territory in virginia and 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 freeing 3,000 enslaved people in the Nations Capital. The abolishment set in motion the emancipation process making the violation of this emancipation act a felony and incentivizing compliance through compensation for each enslaved person free. Slave holders were offered a specific amount of money determined by the assessed value of each person which at times exceeded the 300. It disrupted the social fabric of the chesapeake. Legislators remained unsure as they looked at the prospects of emancipation. So vignette one, the board of commissioners. On may 29th, 1862, an enslaved girl submitted a petition for her freedom. The slave holder had applied from compensation from marias mother and father who resided with him in the district, he declared that maria was not freed by the act at all. He argued because maria had been hired out to a man just outside of the district, the new law did not apply to her. While scholars have argue that had the hiring out system has undermined slavery in urban areas, in this case, it preserved the institution by drawing upon its chesapeake origin origins. It was opined that, quote, all who were out of the district do not come within its provisions are consequently enslaved too. Because of the hiring out system, the owner received compensation for her parents but found a way to invalidate her own claims to freedom. 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 were were all enslaved on the property. Mccormick refused to take advantage of the compensation provision of the new law, but emily saw an opportunity. He reluctantly appeared before the clerk of the court. According to the court records, mccormick denied the constitutionality of the act and said that he would bide his time until it was declared unconstitutional, end quote. He was a citizen to rights to property. Just before his case was decided, mccormick reappeared before the court and for the first time formerly contended with emilys claims. In this case, emancipation threatened the Property Rights of slave holders and excluded white residents from any democratic processes that decided the fate of slavery in washington. The facts of emilys case revealed the geographic position of washington, d. C. , and the neighboring counties. Emily challenged the legal validity of her enslavement and forced mccormick to contend with his testimony. It permitted enslaved women to testify against whiete men and women for the first time. Regarding the case, evidence showed that mccormicks farm was located along the border 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, he built a small tentment for them, while his main living quarters remained in washington, along with the cow pen and other buildings. While he generally prohibited enslaved people from traveling to the district side of the property, it was proven that al sis w alice was supposed to drive cattle to that side of the property. They had seen the women and children in his home daily and that for approximate seven or eight weeks, they had resided in the district with an older man bearing the last name wedge who was identified as the father of emilys husband. They acknowledged her right to claim freedom under the emancipation act. How could slave women and girls appeal to the court or testify under slave oldesholders. It set forth the terms under which enslaved women claimed free status. The act stated, quote, in all judicial proceedings, there shall be no exclusion on any witness on account of color. This stipulation which permitted enslaved people to testify against white people was the feature of the supplemental act. And reason why i point this out is because we cant really understand the emancipation act of 1862 without understanding the supplemental act and how it 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 werent residents of the district. For the first time in the history of the Nations Capital, 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 expansive means to claim freedom. It clashed with existing laws in surrounding counties. Black women traveling from slaveholding states could be considered enslaved even as wartime emancipation took its course. The law stipulated that fugitives must be returned and ple penalties should be imposed upon officials who refuse to return them. While thousands of enslaved women made their way to the slates, they claimed freedom illegally even after local emancipation, the courts in washington, d. C. , enforced fugitive slave laws on behalf of owners residing in states that professed loyalty to the union. White Property Rights were not antithetical to the union. Concession was. Competing legal priorities made life complicated for women who hoped to claim freedom. They navigated wartime policy created in the interest of states loyal to the union and against the interest of those in the confederacy. The borders of the chesapeake could undermine or work in favor of wartime trance mothsformatio. Refugee womened who arrived in the capital converted various dimensions of uncertainty. They traveled to encampments supervised by military personnel. They were referred to as contraband camps. The first u. S. Colored troops trained in 1863. Freedmans village in arlington, virginia, housed 1500 former slaves in 100 family homes. The village was known for the Large Population of women, children and elders depicted as dependents of the government. It contrasted ideas about liberty and citizenship and refugees were regarded as a burden to the government and the military. Government officials envisioned the camp as a temporary community and hoped to make Employment Arrangements with white families. The communities, however, they cultivated gardens, earned wages, built homes, sewed clothing and built a school for children and a hospital. When offered a refuge from violence and exploitation, many people made plans to work and develop land for themselves and families. Residents in the village felt they had created Sustainable Living conditions that allowed them to experience the privileges of citizenship. Contrastingly, just across the potomac, camp barker appeared different than freedmans village and looked more like a tent city with higher mortality rates. In 1864 when officials decided to move residents of camp barker to freedmans village, only 120 agreed to move while the remaining 685 refused to set foot on the slaveholding territory. That gives you perspective on how they felt about the camp. They were charged 5 to 8 per month, 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 force today rely upon overcrowded overcrowded orphanages. In 1864 as officials evicted freed people from camp barker, one grandmother was forced to leave the premises as her grandson was dying beside her. The grandmother who had taken care of the grandson begged lee to stay until the child died but she was refused. Camp barker organized by the government served as an outpost not only of freedom, but also of frailty. For instance, a missionary who worked at camp barker observed that in 1864, quote, there is now some suffering but it is amongst the women who have small children. These can barely obtain the necessaries of life, end quote. The traumas of war imperilled black women to precarious situations. Like many wars, Women Associated with poverty and black women were also vulnerable to Sexual Violence as we learned with lizzy. Their treatment at times reflected the view shaped by a country that rendered black womens body as chatle. In the aftermath of wartime policies, refugees flocked to lines looking for ways to reclaim families and find work in sustainable communities built by freed men and women. Camps functioned as intermediaries of the government that provided assistance but also at times subjected refugee women to conditions similar to that of slavery. Contraband camps could be saturated with habits that reminded black women that for the moment, emancipation remained incomplete. The story of one black woman is illuminating. Upon her arrival at camp barker, johnson understood that she was supposed to work in the camp and, quote, earn my food and clothing, end, quot quote. Prior to her arrival, she worked as a chamber maid. After arriving at camp barker, i dont understand had become ill and unable to perform her responsibilities. When she asked for rations, a blanket, clothing, she was interrogated by mr. Nickels. Nickels could not understand why johnsons husband had not provided for her. But johnson pleaded, quote, im here to earn my board and the same clothes that others have, end quote. She offered to request money from her husband so she could pay for the needed items but nickels responded, you cant buy them from me. You cant buy anything, end quote. Nickels clearly despised johnson and resented what he perceived upon her dependence on the government. If her arrangements at the camp were problematic, nickels should have spoken to her husband about the matter so she could find work elsewhere. Nickels became angry and ordered johnson to a room where she was pinned down and hazard. She reported, quote, they fastened a rope around my two thumbs and raised me from the ground so my weight was suspended by my thumbs. They adjusted the rope and hung her by her wrist. One kicked me, another choked my throat, another stuffed dirty wool in my mouth. After a halfhour, she was released. More than 30 people filed testimonies regarding the abusive treatment of freed people at camp barker. Stories like those are survived reminders of the undercurrent of white contempt. This contempt for refugee women who migrated to the Nations Capital manifested itself in a variety of forms ranging from abuse in contraband camps to local mob violence in the city. The possibilities were not foreclosed by the existence of contraband camps or the legal transformations by the government. The fact that refugee women made it to lines did not garner support. So much of their experiences were informed by the temperament and attitudes of those in position to wheeled the power of the federal government. As johnsons story tells us, legislation alone could not get liberty for women. In 1864, an enslaved woman on the estate belonging to john kerry must have heard news from afar of the developments of the war. She now lived within the legal jurisdiction of the Confederate States of america and the court fixed her value at 800. This was no small figure in antebellum wartime terms. But in the csa, this amount was significant, if not inflated. Just as washington, d. C. Was the citadel of the union, richmond become the stronghold of the confederacy. She learned of the advances made by lees army of Northern Virginia, the strategic gains at the beginning of the war and the losses that smatters throughout in neighboring battles. Word of emancipation spread among enslaved women and they waited in the grip of bondage where the laws of the era remained. And the demands of labor were present in their day to day lives. In 1864, transformation seemed to unfold everywhere but in richmond. Much to john kerrys dismay, he set one of the buildings on his estate on fire. At a time when locals struggled to overcome increasingly depleted resources, the actions exacerbated existing tensions within the confederacy. Her testimony is absent in the historical record but we can infer a number of motivations. To begin, its possible that fanny was not the culprit. If she was, it was an accident. The scholarship confirms the persistence of intentional acts of arson committed by enslaved people particularly during times of war. While the court h we see fewe instances of leniency during the war. As a result fanny received a sentence of sail and transportation beyond the limits of the csa. The state penitentiary purchased fanny and she remained there for the duration of the war. Her experience was neither defined by flight or willingness to remain but revealed the ways in which enslaved women might find themselves confined in territory. Later that same year, the governor did commute the seasons of an enslaved woman accused of arson. She pled not guilty to setting ablaze the home of her owner. The governor commuted the sentence to sale and transportation outside the limits of csa. This is like prescriptive language. And she was purchased for 2,000 which is not completely surprising. By 1864 enslaved women learned how wartime legislation freed former slaves and how union armies encroached upon southern territories and brought news of emancipation. For these women who lived within the final stronghold of the army in the seat of the confederate government, freedom did not appear within reach, even if it did in view. Fanny and janes experiences illuminate the ways reactions to the war could be sur couple scribed by the war. For some, it could be impossible or came with its own challenges and refugee women who escaped confederate territory did not do so because of the emancipation proclamation gave them indisputable authority to do. They charted hazardous terrain and fought residents willing to expose them. Wartime emancipation sparked a violent backlash across regional boundaries for those who maintained the view that they burdened the nation and should be returned to slavery or relegated to secondclass citizenship. During the war, maryland remained a point of convention for refugee women and slave holders. The fourth vignette, maryland. On november 14th, 1864, just days prior to the date when article 24 of marylands new constitution took effect, harriet sent a letter that testified that her owner, quote, treated me badly and this was my principle object in leaving, they informed me that Abraham Lincoln could not free me and that he had no right to do so, end quote. Along with slavery much of the codes were no longer in effect but the constitution did make leaving an employer a punishable crime for black marylanders. Countless cases of child abduction emerged after the war as southerners made efforts to reconstitute their labor force. The provision intended to inaugurate a free labor system, created a corrupt system of child abduction. The apprenticeship system in maryland involved a collaboration between former slave owners and local justices committed to the order of the old south. The Provost Marshal of the district observed that days after the adoption of the new constitution, quote, a rush was made to the Orphans Court for the purpose of having all children under21 years of age both to their former owners under the apprentice law of the state. These arrangements were validated by local judges who decided in favor of the former master and determined that 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 hierarchy that prioritized the interest of whites first and then occasionally, black men as the heads of the household before those of black mothers. The courts too often reforced reinforced white power to decide the fate of black families. The labors of all household members were critical to the subsistence of families, local judges refused the rights. The judges at Orphans Court supported apprenticeship as parents searched for children and faced threats and intimidation from former owners. In many instances, slave holders hoped to entice parents to remain on the farms by withholding the children. As a result, black women sometimes took matters into their own hands in order to retrieve their children and create a where their families could enjoy the fruits of their own laborers. One woman told mr. Townsend, of my having become free and desired my master to give my children and my bed clothes. He told me that i was free, but that my children should be bound to him, end quote. She testified further that, quote, he locked my children up so i could not find them. I got my children by stealth and brought them to baltimore, end quote. Camper, like many other freed women, risked her life to save her children. She said my master pursued me to the boat to get position of my children, but i hid them, end quote. The Union Government made the freedom of black women and children lawful but not also tangible. Black women continue it had work of resituating their relationship between themselves, the government and the communities in which they lived. Freed women navigated the geopolitical train ge geopolitical terrain as strategically as possible. It could be isolating in the absence of trustworthy allies. The assistance of kin and Community Resources found in local churches, schools, and relief organizations supported the transition from slavery. The government played an unprecedented role. Founded in 1865, the bureau of refugees employed commissioners connecting people. John eaten worked at the assistant commissioner for the district of columbia and corresponded with black women from maryland and virginia. Eaten instructed him to visit freed people for the purpose of ascertaining the condition of labor finding where more laborers are demanded and giving those now idle about this city an opportunity to support themselves, free from the vices and diseases which are likely to arise from inhabiting abodes of filth and spending their time in idleness. His order is written with stereotypes about freed people but he made clear that their duties required them to investigate all cases of destitution and to provide food, clothin clothing, medicine and medical attention. It was comprised mostly of women and agents working for the commissioner. Three investigates were sent to visiting families in the city. The bureau ranged for 150 women to attend schools throughout the country for work in education. A general charged eaten and other assistant commissioners appointed to posts throughout maryland and virginia with the tremendous task of serving as a 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 corresponded with bureau officials. Among many responsibilities, agents mediated conflicts, answered letters of inquiries about family members, addressed labor disputes and supervised the payment of refugee women in jobs and homes. Agents were sent into local counties, black girls were particularly in demand for jobs as domestic servants where duties ranged from cooking, cleaning, washing, nursing, and serving as an attendant for women and children. Eaten functioned as a key correspondent that responded to their queries. They assisted with the overall welfare for family members. They could provide much needed answers they needed. During the war, the chief quartermaster of the department of washington secured employment for refugees arriving in the capital. This task 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 capitol were hired out or sent to cities such as baltimore, philadelphia and new york. Eaten wrote to a woman who hired a young girl. Isabellas relatives contracted the commissioner to learn of her residence and reach her at her new place of employment. In another letter address today a lawyer in philadelphia, eaten inquired about a young girl hired to work for him. He noted that her family expressed concern about her were abouts and wanted to make contact with her. The bureau made arrangements to send black girls to northern cities without the consent of their family members. In many cases, they were preferable to immigrant laborers and regarded as more appealing sources of labor. The idea of black women and girls as ideal servants. And many employed them despite objections from parents. The letters went beyond inquiries. Liberty for freed women meant recognizing their legal guardianship over their children, a Novel Concept after years, centuries of slavery. By the end of the war, children found themselves separated from loved ones and familiar surroundings and thrown into labor arrangements without consent. White locals as well as agents at times questioned the parenting abilities of black mothers which complicated their efforts to claim their children. Kathryns children worked on separate farms in virginia. She asked that eaten write to the people that hired them to demonstrate that she possessed the Legal Authority to secure her children. Susan reached eaten in search of her 10yearold daughter. Since phyllis was not found with the consent of her mother in the possible case of violence or resistance, susan is authorized to call upon the nearest authorities for assistance. Just a few days later, he sent another letter requesting the release of a 7yearold boy named jackson. She asked eaten in assistance for securing her son. Women did not relent so easily to the request of the assistant commissioners. The following month, eaten sent another letter with the same request statesing that we deem it our duty to do what we can to reunite families that were separated under the old system of slavery, end quote. The customs of the, quote unquote, old system of slavery proved hard to break in the region. Patsy attempted to recover her mother along with her four centers from a mr. Garnet in virginia. Berlin noted that garnet starved them and theyre working for this former owner without compensation. Eaten sent correspondence saying i would recommend that this statement as made by the colored woman be referred to the officer in charge for investigation for the correction of any abuses, end quote. While the treatment of former slaves remained unchanged, the commissioners unwilling to interfere 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 freed women, they had to articulate their preferred terms of labor for themselves and families and wield authorization given by officials by eaten. They were engaged in both personal and political processes of selfmaking. The black women who sent letters to eaten applied gender norms in their appeals to the federal government. And particularly those who subscribed to acceptable gender norms. When the reality of lives and loved ones conflicted with the entitlements of independent households. One woman requested that eaton write on her behalf as she retrieved her daughter from maryland. In that letter he stipulated that she acts with the advice, authority and consent of her husband. The father of the said mary agnes and so has full authority to bring her daughter home. No person or persons will interfere with her lawful acts for this purpose and any officers of the army so she may be so situated to aid her. She called the patriarchy to reinforce her claims to her daughter since eaton made reference to the consent of her husband to authorize the retrieval. The military provided another motivation to enforce compliance with the order. And so these are just a sampling of hundreds and thousands of letters to the Bureau Agents and many of these women are kind of calling upon the right to be independent households, subsistence households that farm their own land, but in order to do that they need the family members to be reunited. Black women in the capital approached eaton with the expectation of advocacy as they faced off with resistant southerners with a written endorsement and military support in case of disputes. She asked help to retrieve her two sons charles and israel. Should they resist her claims to her children, eaton stipulated that she is authorized to call upon the nearest military authorities for assistance. In other case sofia smith requested assistance in securing children from a mrs. Lucinda dotson and similarly eaton wrote because you refuse allow them to come to her that sofia smith is fully authorized and backed by the military. Mary queen the grandmother to 12yearold kitty complained that Charles Mills refused to give the child up to her, end quote. Eaton made clear that he recognized mary queen as the, quote, rightful protector as the father and mother of the child are both dead, end 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 grips of bondage. This reminds us not every orphan was truly an orphan. Even as children lost their parents, guardians, and kin appealed to the bureau to intervene on their behalf. So the final vignette, back in d. C. Black women attempted to seek the release of loved ones from planters that exploited the labors of kin but sought to discharge loved ones confined in jails and slave pens during the war. A release from prison and pens could take up to a year or two after the war ended. Dolea ann jones petitioned on behalf of jon jones and caleb day, black men 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 could not disentangle them from the old regime. They came from perhaps maryland or delaware since the police housed fugitives in the city jail. Sentenced to 11 years in prison, they hoped to appeal to the bureau for release well after states recognized emancipation, the convicted men had already served two years when jones submitted the inquiry in 1865. Eaton realized that the previous verdicts based on slave laws posed 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 for violation of the fugitive slave laws or any slave codes be granted pardon and in the capital he wrote to Andrew Johnson requesting a pardon for a 13yearold boy named beverly mccaul. Mccauls mother who, quote, appears like an industrious, intelligent woman worthy to provide for her son made eaton aware of the two year sentence in the penitentiary. The court charged beverly with theft. Eaton learned that the union army broug him to the capital from fredericksburg and held a breast pin valued at 40. Confined with hardened criminals the mother pleaded for her sons release. Eaton informed the president that he believed beverlys mother could train him to virtue and usefulness as a citizen, end quote. Young boys and girls and women and men who ran into legal trouble found themselves in the city jails but also in the work houses serving long sentences or working or living in slave pens as late of the winter of 1866. Life in the chesapeake presented social, legal and economic hurdles that underscored the barriers that freed women confronted in an era of emancipation. They struggled to secure employment free of exploitation. One man named cecil who approached free people to hire them out to farms in maryland. Described as an older man with medium size with gray hair, planters paid him a hefty commission for securing laborers in the neighboring counties. He deducted a commission, 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. Free people in the district face vulnerabilities to exploitive work conditions. But the destitution proved even more menacing. Countless letters arrived in local Bureau Offices reporting scores of families plagued with poverty and starvation and disease. One agent reported that several groups of refugees hired out to labor for wages arrived in the farms and infected with smallpox and other infectious diseases. Volunteers set out to provide rations and investigate their condition further. Agents made their way to dl and u streets where there were black families erected chanties between 10th and 11th street. They were far from sufficient in providing shelter in the bitter cold of february in 1866. Communities of black families cramped in the alleys in rear of the main thoroughfares experienced harsh conditions even as agents of these neighborhoods even as the agents provided these neighborhoods with relief. When provisions became available. Families huddled between first and Second Street were found in destitute condition at beginning of winter which is when many families were found. These that resided in the district prior to the war found their resources depleted by wartime conditions. Marry johnson lived on f street. Agents found her living in destitution, despite the fact that her husband worked for the Union Military. Freedom demanded that africanamericans first survive the devastations of war. To conclude, the Union Government altered the possibilities for liberty through legislation. But the refugee women put those policies to the test during and after the civil war. The chances of becoming free were greater where the Union Government and military wielded authority and corresponding officials acted in legal transportation. Even under these circumstances, enslaved refugee, fugitive and free women were not shielded from abuse and violent black mash. Black women and men employed the the term africanamerican to describe refugees at the time of emancipation. Overstating this fact 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 obscures freed womens struggles to define the terms of their inclusion. The process of realizing and navigating liberty reflected a more collaborative process. This doesnt mean they didnt appeal to soldiers, federal authorities or call upon gender norms. They navigated a changing government and society to help make legislation a reality for themselves. Black women challenged the notion that liberty stopped at legal emancipation. Using tactics such as petitions to the government, black women found shelter, food, jobs, and support for survival. The war and the prospect of emancipation presented opportunities for these women to imagine and act upon new visions of themselves. As lawmakers enacted legislation that ended centuries of slavery, black women and men decided for themselves their own future in the country where they fought and they toiled and lived. Thank you. [ applause ] we have about ten minutes for questions or so. Once again, raise your hand and the microphone will come to you. Thanks very much for that. I have two quick questions. I actually wrote them down so i wouldnt ramble on. Like led zeppelin on their second album. Thinking about place, and we had a confidence last night about a sense of place. Have you done any research of finding the actual sites now . Is there any memorialization in the district or in Northern Virginia of the sites other than at arlington of both the camps, the places that you specifically talk about with your research . The second thing also speaking of place, have you done any contrasting of the experience, the city experience of freed women in d. C. Versus baltimore with their proximity but very, of course, different political nature . Thank you. Thank you for your question. In terms of place, we obviously have robert e. Lees estate does a good job of acknowledging the role of freemans village in this part of the talk. There are some other camps that i think the library does a fine job of looking at. Kind of recording some of that work. Also, the churches, the ame churches in d. C. Do a great job of kind of remembering and understanding africanamerican experiences in the district. So i think that theres certainly an effort to do that. I think its been a fine effort thus far. As we see, theres so many ways that you can sort of mark place and understand it. In terms of your second question, yes, so in the book project, i have a chapter actually on black girls and schools. Its really fascinating, because there are the schools for black girls emerge leading into the war. The mayor of washington, he kind of gets worked up about it. He basically he says that these schools are these schools for black girls are a threat to the union, which i was like that feels hyperbolic. Right . But it just goes to show the kind of work, the building that africanamerican communities and white allies were doing in the district to kind of make space for liberty and selfmaking in ways that were really successful leading into the war and during the war as well. And we see counterparts of those schools, particularly run by the Catholic Church and the orders of black nuns in baltimore as well. So we have theres so many very different stories which i hope that my talk captured that there are moments where emancipation works and it works really well. And because of the help that they are able to solicit from authorities and from military officials. Sometimes it really doesnt. It really just depends on the place and the people who are acting alongside these women. So thank you for your question. I have a couple questions. First of all, im struck by the term contraband camp. Yeah. Im assuming that that relates somehow to the refugees themselves, that they were formerly considered chattel or property. Is that correct . Absolutely. Yes. Contraband was a term that was employed particularly after the first confiscation act was passed to kind of underscore this is property thats being taken from the confederacy and this is the legal strategy being employed at the beginning of the war. That term kind of sticks. People actually refer to refugees as contraband. Since they say, we should call them refugees. Acknowledge that contraband was a term that was actively used. I might add, in the 19th century was used not only by people who were in the military but by africanamericans themselves who were free and who were sort a part of the existing communities. So i think it was understood that they were coming from slavery and that kind of assigned them a particular kind of both legal status but also a social status as well. My second question is, theres kind of a striking similarity im seeing between the circumstances of freed slaves being seen as a danger to the union and in our current world the immigrants coming from Central America are viewed as threats to the union. Could you comment on that, please . Oh, boy. I dont necessarily see the correlation mainly because were not in a war right now. Right . But i do think that the idea of refuge, sanctuary is something thats definitely it resonates in our current moment of thinking about immigration and many cities have responded by sort of declaring themselves as sort of an umbrella of refuge and sanctuary. So i think in that sense you might see some correlation as well. But i think sort of how it manifests itself on the ground is very different because of war. War is what makes this what sort of defines refuge in this particular region very differently than sort of what we see happening now. It doesnt mean that there isnt conflict happening on the borders today. But i think the connotations are very different because of the way that the country as a whole is responding. Hi. Hi. Just as a point of information, i live in washington, d. C. Yay. There is a bridge that was renamed Freedom Village bridge in arlington and that commemorates the existence of that freedom colony. I volunteer at the africanAmerican Civil War museum. We talk about camp barker inside the exhibit. I invite everybody to come and read about camp barker. Yes. Theres no marker or anything for there, but we do take about it in the museum. Just a couple of questions. Number one, theres always a question about refugees being paid. Theres a lot of controversy about that. Can you talk to what percentage of refugees actually worked and got paid versus those who didnt . Second, we know that a lot of men are the first ones to escape. But theres this question about what percentage of escapees or refugees are male versus female. Can you talk about that . Finally, in maryland they institute a policy where black men can join the army. But it doesnt free their family members. Right. In kentucky and missouri, we hear stories about a lot of the family members being persecuted to use a word. Do you get into that in your studies . Sure. I think that Lucy Ellen Johnson is a very good example of persecution as well, right, in the district right at camp barker. So i do get into that. I also get into things that are a little stickier, too. What happens when your husband goes off to war and never comes back . Not because theyre dead but they just never come back or they never send money home. And then you are kind of sent into a tailspin. So i talk a lot about prostitution and how that actually ends up being something that we see a proliferation of, black and white women participating in in the district. Im forgetting your other questions. Your other questions are about the ratio between sort of refugee women versus men running to union lines . Disproportionately men escape. Thats just been the case before and during the war. But i also think it just depends on where the military is, too. Where the union army is is really going to draw people regardless of gender depending on whether or not the Union Military is close by. But i do think that men sort of run to union lines believing that they can lend their services, they can lend their labor in a particular way. And we see more of that. I dont think we have figures as precise as they should be. So im sort of im very resistance to this. What was your first question . People getting paid. A lot of times the biggest way that they got paid was actually through things that they needed. Food. Food rations, clothing and bed clothes and so forth. Giving them a space. Giving them space and land to cultivate their own garden, to build up their own buildings and homes and institutions. Kind of position them economically to participate in the local economy. In the district in particular, we dont there were over 40,000 refugees. Right . So really, it was the onus of the quartermaster to determine who would be able to get rations and that sort of thing. I would say that was more of sort of the form of compensation that you see most, unless you were specifically commissioned to build fortifications. As women were pursuing freedom and job opportunities, what was the attitude among africanamerican men . Did they feel threatened . Were white women supporting other women that may be opening up opportunities for them . Absolutely. There were a lot of white women, including mary todd lincoln, who fundraised and assisted with relief and with placement of jobs as well. In terms of how men responded to enslaved women working, i think the idea was that if you were a refugee and you were now in d. C. And you could claim some semblance of freedom depending on legally where you stood, idea was Everybody Needs to work. To survive the war. I want to hone in on the fact that even though i talk about the devastation and the poverty, i want thats across the board, regardless of race, regardless of where you are in the region. So i think that sort of instinct and drive to survive is very much at the center of how people are thinking about employment. But as a caveat, i do think that once we get into the reconstruction era particularly in the south, it does become a status symbol for formerly enslaved women who do not work, it becomes a status symbol for themselves and their husbands that they dont work. But i think in those sort of wartime years, the imperative is to work. We see many couples, black couples sort of owning and running body houses and doing things that necessarily kind of get them into some trouble. It ends up being lucrative because of the way prostitution and leisure pursuits take off in d. C. During that time. Thank you. Thats a great question. Any other questions . Thank you very much. They can be used as teaching tools to promote conversation and understanding. Tonight, we visit the museum at Farris State University in big rapids, michigan, to see a selection of artifacts from their collection. Watch tonight at 8 00 eastern and enjoy American History tv every weekend on cspan3. Next, on the civil war, author Jonathan White talks about how Abraham Lincoln interacted with africanamericans during his time in office and explains how his willingness to have africanamerican guests at the white house and shake their hands was considered very liberal, each radical at the time. This part was held at the library of virginia in richmond. Our next speaker is john white. John white is associate professor of american studies at Christopher Newport university at newport news. When i look at his academic resume, i think about an old adviser, and im talking about you, jim whittenburg, when you come into our office to find someoneo