A fragile freedom: African American women and emancipation in the antebellum city

Erica Armstrong Dunbar

A fragile freedom: African American women and emancipation in the antebellum city

Research output: Book/Report › Book

Abstract

This book is the first to chronicle the lives of African American women in the urban north during the early years of the republic. A Fragile Freedom investigates how African American women in Philadelphia journeyed from enslavement to the precarious status of "free persons" in the decades leading up to the Civil War and examines comparable developments in the cities of New York and Boston. Erica Armstrong Dunbar argues that early nineteenth-century Philadelphia, where most African Americans were free, enacted a kind of rehearsal for the national emancipation that followed in the post-Civil War years. She explores the lives of the "regular" women of antebellum Philadelphia, the free black institutions that took root there, and the previously unrecognized importance of African American women to the history of American cities.

Original language	American English
Publisher	Yale University Press
Number of pages	196
ISBN (Print)	9780300125917
State	Published - 2008
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Social Sciences
General Arts and Humanities

Cite this

@book{6c4f5e1eb63a488cb7368cbf7629162f,

title = "A fragile freedom: African American women and emancipation in the antebellum city",

abstract = "This book is the first to chronicle the lives of African American women in the urban north during the early years of the republic. A Fragile Freedom investigates how African American women in Philadelphia journeyed from enslavement to the precarious status of {"}free persons{"} in the decades leading up to the Civil War and examines comparable developments in the cities of New York and Boston. Erica Armstrong Dunbar argues that early nineteenth-century Philadelphia, where most African Americans were free, enacted a kind of rehearsal for the national emancipation that followed in the post-Civil War years. She explores the lives of the {"}regular{"} women of antebellum Philadelphia, the free black institutions that took root there, and the previously unrecognized importance of African American women to the history of American cities.",

author = "Dunbar, {Erica Armstrong}",

year = "2008",

language = "American English",

isbn = "9780300125917",

publisher = "Yale University Press",

address = "United States",

}

TY - BOOK

T1 - A fragile freedom

T2 - African American women and emancipation in the antebellum city

AU - Dunbar, Erica Armstrong

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - This book is the first to chronicle the lives of African American women in the urban north during the early years of the republic. A Fragile Freedom investigates how African American women in Philadelphia journeyed from enslavement to the precarious status of "free persons" in the decades leading up to the Civil War and examines comparable developments in the cities of New York and Boston. Erica Armstrong Dunbar argues that early nineteenth-century Philadelphia, where most African Americans were free, enacted a kind of rehearsal for the national emancipation that followed in the post-Civil War years. She explores the lives of the "regular" women of antebellum Philadelphia, the free black institutions that took root there, and the previously unrecognized importance of African American women to the history of American cities.

AB - This book is the first to chronicle the lives of African American women in the urban north during the early years of the republic. A Fragile Freedom investigates how African American women in Philadelphia journeyed from enslavement to the precarious status of "free persons" in the decades leading up to the Civil War and examines comparable developments in the cities of New York and Boston. Erica Armstrong Dunbar argues that early nineteenth-century Philadelphia, where most African Americans were free, enacted a kind of rehearsal for the national emancipation that followed in the post-Civil War years. She explores the lives of the "regular" women of antebellum Philadelphia, the free black institutions that took root there, and the previously unrecognized importance of African American women to the history of American cities.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84903072300&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84903072300&partnerID=8YFLogxK

M3 - Book

SN - 9780300125917

BT - A fragile freedom

PB - Yale University Press

ER -

A fragile freedom: African American women and emancipation in the antebellum city

Abstract

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this