Love of Freedom
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They baked New England's Thanksgiving pies, preached their faith to crowds of worshippers, spied for the patriots during the Revolution, wrote that human bondage was a sin, and demanded reparations for slavery. Black women in colonial and revolutionary New England sought not only legal emancipation from slavery but defined freedom more broadly to include spiritual, familial, and economic dimensions.Hidden behind the banner of achieving freedom was the assumption that freedom meant affirming black manhood The struggle for freedom in New England was different for men than for women. Black men in colonial and revolutionary New England were struggling for freedom from slavery and for the right to patriarchal control of their own families. Women had more complicated desires, seeking protection and support in a male headed household while also wanting personal liberty. Eventually women who were former slaves began to fight for dignity and respect for womanhood and access to schooling for black children.
Features
- First study of black women in colonial and Revolutionary New England
- Explores lives of hitherto unknown black women in New England
- Examines how patriarchy and not just slavery impacted the lives of black women in the north
Reviews
"Catherine Adams and Elizabeth H. Pleck make a profoundly important contribution to the historiography of African American women by providing a corrective to previous scholars who have generally ignored the unique experience of northern black women during the early period. While it is true that the historical record is comparatively silent on black women's experiences in the colonial North, Adams and Pleck prove that with some creativity and determination, it is possible to gain deep insight into their lives." --American Historical Review
"A significant and transformative book, Love of Freedom deserves the broadest possible readership. A generation ago few scholars and writers imagined that an outstanding history of enslaved black women's complex and passionate quest for freedom in revolutionary era New England could be done. In Love of Freedom, Pleck and Adams have produced a superbly researched and beautifully written history of shackled black women who though entrapped in the nexus of slavery and patriarchy profoundly combined love of freedom and a will to be free and bequeathed to us all a lasting legacy of resilience and resistance."--Darlene Clark Hine, Northwestern University
"Adams and Pleck have cast their net wide to reel in an amazing number of life stories of African New Englanders. Theirs is a valuable addition to the literature on African American women and gender relations in the early British Atlantic. A must-assign book for women's and African American history courses."--Cornelia Hughes Dayton, author of Women before the Bar: Gender, Law, and Society in Connecticut, 1639-1789
"An important resource for anyone doing research in the field." --Feminist Review
Accessible, lively, and well-researched .By creatively blending legal and literary analysis, Adams and Pleck document how race and gender informed the meaning of freedom in complex and often contradictory ways .With its short, smart, and readable chapters, Love of Freedom would be an excellent addition to an undergraduate survey of African Americans or women A graceful, expansive, and imaginative work. Hilary Moss, Journal of American History
About the Author(s)
Catherine Adams is Assistant Professor of History at SUNY Geneseo.
Elizabeth H. Pleck is Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
