Title: Freedom's women : Black women and families in Civil War era Mississippi /
Authors: Frankel, Noralee, 1950-
Publisher: Indiana University Press,
Year: 1999
Subjects: African American women Mississippi History; African American families Mississippi History; Freed persons Mississippi History; Reconstruction Social aspects Mississippi.; Mississippi History African Americans.; United States History African Americans; Mississippi History Social aspects.; United States History Social aspects
Abstract: "African American women both accepted and defied conventional definitions of private and public spheres. As freed women and men tried to minimize interference by their former owners, practically everything considered private became a public issue: marriage, mobility, parenthood, housing, and control over African American women's sexuality. Experiences such as pregnancy, nursing, the preparation of meals, and washing clothes, certainly viewed as private by freed women, became areas of heated debate between employers and employees."--Jacket.
Contents: Slavery -- The impact of the war of liberation on families and work -- Within the union lines -- Labor after the war -- Male and female intimate relationships -- Families -- Kin networks -- Communities.