Loren Schweninger's Books

Appealing for Liberty

Freedom Suits in the South

By: Loren Schweninger

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Appealing for Liberty

Freedom Suits in the South

By: Loren Schweninger

Dred Scott and his landmark Supreme Court case are ingrained in the national memory, but he was just one of multitudes who appealed for their freedom in courtrooms across the country. Appealing for Liberty is the most comprehensive study to give voice to these African Americans, drawing from more than 2,000 suits and from the testimony of more than 4,000 plaintiffs from the Revolutionary era to the Civil War. Through the petitions, evidence, and testimony introduced in these court proceedings, the lives of the enslaved come sharply and poignantly into focus, as do many other aspects of southern society such as the efforts to preserve and re-unite black families. This book depicts in graphic terms, the pain, suffering, fears, and trepidations of the plaintiffs while discussing the legal system—lawyers, judges, juries, and testimony—that made judgments on their "causes," as the suits were often called. Arguments for freedom were diverse: slaves brought suits claiming they had been freed in wills and deeds, were born of free mothers, were descendants of free white women or Indian women; they charged that they were illegally imported to some states or were residents of the free states and territories. Those who testified on their behalf, usually against leaders of their communities, were generally white. So too were the lawyers who took these cases, many of them men of prominence, such as Francis Scott Key. More often than not, these men were slave owners themselves-- complicating our understanding of race relations in the antebellum period. A majority of the cases examined here were not appealed, nor did they create important judicial precedent. Indeed, most of the cases ended at the county, circuit, or district court level of various southern states. Yet the narratives of both those who gained their freedom and those who failed to do so, and the issues their suits raised, shed a bold and timely light on the history of race and liberty in the "land of the free.

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Page Count

408

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0190664304

ISBN 13

9780190664305

Families in Crisis in the Old South

Divorce, Slavery, and the Law

By: Loren Schweninger

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Families in Crisis in the Old South

Divorce, Slavery, and the Law

By: Loren Schweninger

Families in Crisis in the Old South: Divorce, Slavery, and the Law

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Page Count

256

Publisher

Univ of North Carolina Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0807835692

ISBN 13

9780807835692

Runaway Slaves

Rebels on the Plantation

By: John Hope Franklin,Loren Schweninger

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Runaway Slaves

Rebels on the Plantation

By: John Hope Franklin,Loren Schweninger

This bold and precedent-setting study details numerous slave rebellions against white masters, drawn from planters' records, government petitions, newspapers, and other documents. The reactions of white slave owners are also documented. 15 halftones.

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Page Count

480

Publisher

OUP USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195084519

ISBN 13

9780195084511

Black Property Owners in the South, 1790-1915

By: Loren Schweninger

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Black Property Owners in the South, 1790-1915

By: Loren Schweninger

Property ownership has been a traditional means for African Americans to gain recognition and enter the mainstream of American life. This landmark study documents this significant, but often overlooked, aspect of the black experience from the late eighteenth century to World War I.

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Page Count

452

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0252066340

ISBN 13

9780252066344

Families in Crisis in the Old South

Divorce, Slavery, and the Law

By: Loren Schweninger

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Families in Crisis in the Old South

Divorce, Slavery, and the Law

By: Loren Schweninger

Families in Crisis in the Old South: Divorce, Slavery, and the Law

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Page Count

256

Publisher

Univ of North Carolina Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0807835692

ISBN 13

9780807835692

Runaway Slaves

Rebels on the Plantation

By: John Hope Franklin,Loren Schweninger

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Runaway Slaves

Rebels on the Plantation

By: John Hope Franklin,Loren Schweninger

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Page Count

476

Publisher

OUP USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195084519

ISBN 13

9780195084511

In Search of the Promised Land

A Slave Family in the Old South

By: John Hope Franklin,Loren Schweninger

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In Search of the Promised Land

A Slave Family in the Old South

By: John Hope Franklin,Loren Schweninger

The matriarch of a remarkable African American family, Sally Thomas went from being a slave on a tobacco plantation to a "virtually free" slave who ran her own business and purchased one of her sons out of bondage. In Search of the Promised Land offers a vivid portrait of the extended Thomas-Rapier family and of slave life before the Civil War. Based on personal letters and an autobiography by one of Thomas' sons, this remarkable piece of detective work follows the family as they walk the boundary between slave and free, traveling across the country in search of a "promised land" where African Americans would be treated with respect. Their record of these journeys provides a vibrant picture of antebellum America, ranging from New Orleans to St. Louis to the Overland Trail. The authors weave a compelling narrative that illuminates the larger themes of slavery and freedom while examining the family's experiences with the California Gold Rush, Civil War battles, and steamboat adventures. The documents show how the Thomas-Rapier kin bore witness to the full gamut of slavery--from brutal punishment, runaways, and the breakup of slave families to miscegenation, insurrection panics, and slave patrols. The book also exposes the hidden lives of "virtually free" slaves, who maintained close relationships with whites, maneuvered within the system, and gained a large measure of autonomy.

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Page Count

306

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199728798

ISBN 13

9780199728794

Book's by Loren Schweninger

Appealing for Liberty

Appealing for Liberty

Families in Crisis in the Old South

Families in Crisis in the Old South

Runaway Slaves

Runaway Slaves

Black Property Owners in the South, 1790-1915

Black Property Owners in the South, 1790-1915

Families in Crisis in the Old South

Families in Crisis in the Old South

Runaway Slaves

Runaway Slaves

In Search of the Promised Land

In Search of the Promised Land

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