Seizing Freedom

How did America recover after its years of civil war? How did freed men and women, former slaves, react to their newly won freedoms? Building on, criticizing and extending previous historical accounts of the Reconstruction, David Roediger's radical new history finds fresh sources and texts that redefine the idea of freedom after the jubilee. Reinstating ex-slaves' own "freedom dreams" in constructing these histories, Roediger creates a masterful account of the emancipation, and its ramifications on a whole host of day-to-day concerns for whites and black alike, such as property relations, labor, and gender roles.