Barbara J. Beeching's Books

Hopes and Expectations

The Origins of the Black Middle Class in Hartford

By: Barbara J. Beeching

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Hopes and Expectations

The Origins of the Black Middle Class in Hartford

By: Barbara J. Beeching

Winner of the 2017 Homer D. Babbidge Jr. Award presented by the Association for the Study of Connecticut History Based on a treasure trove of more than two hundred personal letters written in the 1860s, Hopes and Expectations tells the story of three young African Americans in the North. Living on Maryland's eastern shore, schoolteacher Rebecca Primus sent "home weeklies" to her parents in Hartford and also corresponded with friend Addie Brown, a domestic worker back home. Addie wrote voluminously to Rebecca, lamenting their separation and describing her struggle to achieve a semblance of security and stability. Around the same time, Rebecca's brother, Nelson, began writing home about his new life in Boston, as he set out to make a name and a career for himself as an artist. The letters describe their daily lives and touch on race, class, gender, religion, and politics, offering rare entry into individual black lives at that time. Through extensive archival research, Barbara J. Beeching also shows how the story of the Primus family intersects with changes over time in Hartford's black community and the country. Newspapers and census tracts, as well as probate, land, court, and vital records help her trace an arc of local black fortunes between 1830 and 1880. Seeking full equality, blacks sought refinement and respectability through home ownership, literacy, and social gains. One of the many paradoxes Beeching uncovers is that just as the Civil War was tearing the nation apart, a recognizable black middle class was emerging in Hartford. It is a story of individuals, family, and community, of expectation and disappointment, loss and endurance, change and continuity.

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Page Count

298

Publisher

State University of New York Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1438461666

ISBN 13

9781438461663

Hopes and Expectations

The Origins of the Black Middle Class in Hartford

By: Barbara J. Beeching

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Hopes and Expectations

The Origins of the Black Middle Class in Hartford

By: Barbara J. Beeching

Describes in rich detail African American daily life among free blacks in the North in the 1860s. Based on a treasure trove of more than two hundred personal letters written in the 1860s, Hopes and Expectations tells the story of three young African Americans in the North. Living on Marylands eastern shore, schoolteacher Rebecca Primus sent home weeklies to her parents in Hartford and also corresponded with friend Addie Brown, a domestic worker back home. Addie wrote voluminously to Rebecca, lamenting their separation and describing her struggle to achieve a semblance of security and stability. Around the same time, Rebeccas brother, Nelson, began writing home about his new life in Boston, as he set out to make a name and a career for himself as an artist. The letters describe their daily lives and touch on race, class, gender, religion, and politics, offering rare entry into individual black lives at that time. Through extensive archival research, Barbara J. Beeching also shows how the story of the Primus family intersects with changes over time in Hartfords black community and the country. Newspapers and census tracts, as well as probate, land, court, and vital records help her trace an arc of local black fortunes between 1830 and 1880. Seeking full equality, blacks sought refinement and respectability through home ownership, literacy, and social gains. One of the many paradoxes Beeching uncovers is that just as the Civil War was tearing the nation apart, a recognizable black middle class was emerging in Hartford. It is a story of individuals, family, and community, of expectation and disappointment, loss and endurance, change and continuity. This is a powerful book and a truly important story. Beeching provides a richly detailed survey of life in Connecticut, the political and racial climates at various historical moments, and the web of intraracial and interracial networks that informed the Primus family experiences. Multifaceted and thoroughly absorbing, Hopes and Expectations will reintroduce people to a New England that they thought they knew. Lois Brown, author of Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins: Black Daughter of the Revolution

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298

Publisher

SUNY Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1438461658

ISBN 13

9781438461656

The Life and Times of Barbara Wilson

By: Matthew Wilson

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The Life and Times of Barbara Wilson

By: Matthew Wilson

The author wishes it to be known that the content of this book is authentic and true - messages sent from the Spirit World by Matthew's wife Barbara. When she passed over into the spiritual realms, that could have been the end of the book but Barbara is s

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Page Count

202

Publisher

Fastprint Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1780357249

ISBN 13

9781780357249

Book's by Barbara J. Beeching

Hopes and Expectations

Hopes and Expectations

Hopes and Expectations

Hopes and Expectations

The Life and Times of Barbara Wilson

The Life and Times of Barbara Wilson

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