LEADER 04648nam 2200829 a 450 001 9910821555903321 005 20240417131431.0 010 $a0-674-07082-8 010 $a0-674-06748-7 024 7 $a10.4159/harvard.9780674067486 035 $a(CKB)2670000000330115 035 $a(StDuBDS)AH24970289 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000819090 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11410942 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000819090 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10845046 035 $a(PQKB)10611997 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3301209 035 $a(DE-B1597)177951 035 $a(OCoLC)827235538 035 $a(OCoLC)840444021 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780674067486 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3301209 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10652999 035 $a(dli)HEB34009.0001.001 035 $a(MiU)MIU01200000000000000000268 035 $a(EXLCZ)992670000000330115 100 $a20120502d2013 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur||||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aWord by word $eemancipation and the act of writing /$fChristopher Hager 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aCambridge, Mass. $cHarvard University Press$d2013 215 $a1 online resource (296 p. )$cill 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a0-674-05986-7 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aBlack Literacy in the White Mind -- The Private Life of the Literate Slave -- Writing a Life in Slavery and Freedom -- The Written We -- Petition and Protest in the Occupied South -- Black Ink, White Pages. 330 $aOne of the cruelest abuses of slavery in America was that slaves were forbidden to read and write. Consigned to illiteracy, they left no records of their thoughts and feelings apart from the few exceptional narratives of Frederick Douglass and others who escaped to the North-or so we have long believed. But as Christopher Hager reveals, a few enslaved African Americans managed to become literate in spite of all prohibitions, and during the halting years of emancipation, thousands more seized the chance to learn. The letters and diaries of these novice writers, unpolished and hesitant yet rich with voice, show ordinary black men and women across the South using pen and paper to make sense of their experiences. Through an unprecedented gathering of these forgotten writings-from letters by individuals sold away from their families, to petitions from freedmen in the army to their new leaders, to a New Orleans man's transcription of the Constitution-Word by Word rewrites the history of emancipation. The idiosyncrasies of these untutored authors, Hager argues, reveal the enormous difficulty of straddling the border between slave and free. These unusual texts, composed by people with a unique perspective on the written word, force us to rethink the relationship between literacy and freedom. For African Americans at the end of slavery, learning to write could be liberating and empowering, but putting their hard-won skill to use often proved arduous and daunting-a portent of the tenuousness of the freedom to come. 606 $aAmerican literature$xAfrican American authors$xHistory and criticism 606 $aAuthors, American$y19th century$xPolitical and social views 606 $aAmerican literature$y19th century$xHistory and criticism 606 $aAfrican Americans$xIntellectual life$y20th century 606 $aAfrican American authors$xPolitical and social views 606 $aAfrican Americans$xSocial conditions$yTo 1964 606 $aLiterature and society$zUnited States 606 $aAfrican Americans$xCivil rights 606 $aAfrican Americans in literature 606 $aEnslaved persons$xEmancipation$zUnited States 607 $aAfrican 615 0$aAmerican literature$xAfrican American authors$xHistory and criticism. 615 0$aAuthors, American$xPolitical and social views. 615 0$aAmerican literature$xHistory and criticism. 615 0$aAfrican Americans$xIntellectual life 615 0$aAfrican American authors$xPolitical and social views. 615 0$aAfrican Americans$xSocial conditions 615 0$aLiterature and society 615 0$aAfrican Americans$xCivil rights. 615 0$aAfrican Americans in literature. 615 0$aEnslaved persons$xEmancipation 676 $a810.9/896073075 700 $aHager$b Christopher$f1974-$01708540 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910821555903321 996 $aWord by word$94097627 997 $aUNINA