1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910787209403321

Autore

Wilson Carol <1962->

Titolo

Freedom at risk : the kidnapping of free Blacks in America, 1780-1865 / / Carol Wilson

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Lexington, Kentucky : , : The University Press of Kentucky, , 2009

©1994

ISBN

0-8131-3351-3

0-8131-4979-7

Edizione

[Paperback edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (184 p.)

Disciplina

973/.0496073

Soggetti

African Americans - History - To 1863

Kidnapping - United States - History - 18th century

Kidnapping - United States - History - 19th century

African Americans - Legal status, laws, etc

Slavery - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction; 1. ""From Their Free Homes into Bondage"": The Abduction of Free Blacks into Slavery; 2. ""The Legitimate Offspring of Slavery"": Kidnappers Who Operated within the Law; 3. ""Leave No Stone Unturned"": Government Assistance to Free Blacks; 4. ""The Thought of Slavery Is Death to a Free Man"": Abolitionist Response to Kidnapping; 5. ""An Almost Sleepless Vigilance"": Black Resistance to Kidnapping; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index; A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; Z

Sommario/riassunto

Kidnapping was perhaps the greatest fear of free blacks in pre-Civil War America. Though they may have descended from generations of free-born people or worked to purchase their freedom, free blacks were not able to enjoy the privileges and opportunities of white Americans. They lived with the constant threat of kidnapping and enslavement, against which they had little recourse.Most kidnapped free blacks were forcibly abducted, but other methods, such as luring victims with job offers or falsely claiming free people as fugitive slaves,



were used as well. Kidnapping of blacks was actually facil