FSSP editor William Horne discusses what we can learn abt gendered struggles for liberation, recognition, & dignity from the cases of two women caught by the Army in men's clothes. www.journalofthecivilwarera.org/2026/04/i-wa...

We are just on the cusp of making it public. Will be sharing on here & @fssp.bsky.social when it’s live.

FSSP editor William Horne writes about what we can learn of postemancipation citizenship & rights through the experiences of Black war widow Henrietta Emory Meads. You check out the full transcription & original images embedded in the article.

FSSP editor William Horne writes about what we can learn of postemancipation citizenship & rights through the experiences of Black war widow Henrietta Emory Meads. You check out the full transcription & original images embedded in the article.

Amy Moore & her enslaved family were freed by the Union Army in Alabama, only to be arrested & sold as slaves behind Union lines. "We claim protection," Moore wrote in 1865, "under that [Emancipation] Proclamation from the fact of our living in one of the States mentioned in Said Proclamation."

Amy Moore & her enslaved family were freed by the Union Army in Alabama, only to be arrested & sold as slaves behind Union lines. "We claim protection," Moore wrote in 1865, "under that [Emancipation] Proclamation from the fact of our living in one of the States mentioned in Said Proclamation."

After Confederate war crimes against Black troops, Theodore Hodgkins, a Black New Yorker wrote to Secretary of War Stanton that "black soldiers have been murdered again & again yet where is there an instance of retaliation."

After learning that captured Black soldiers "have been cruelly murdered by your authorities, & others sold into slavery," U.S. Major General David Hunter wrote to Confederate President Jefferson Davis to condemn "every outrage of this kind against the laws of war and humanity."

After the Army forced Black officers out of the ranks in 1863, a group of Black former officers from Louisiana petitioned to be reinstated "to assist in putting down this wicked rebelion. And in restoring peace to our once peaceful country."

After emancipation, a Black Mississippi veteran reported that his white neighbors "outraged [Black Southerners] beyound humanity. Houses have been tourn down... & the old Negroes after they have worked there till they are 70 or 80 yers of age drive them off in the cold to frieze & starve to death."

We’ve published a fantastic new primary source collection—"Radicalism and Popular Protest in Georgian Britain, c. 1714–1832”. Visit the collection landing page at buff.ly/Mf1q0nH.

Thank you so much. This is my hometown and I’ve never heard of this incident. Will definitely look into this more

Eighteen. Sixty-six.

After the police chief in Columbia, SC murdered a Black resident in cold blood, an anonymous Black woman wrote to the govt in May 1866: "Our friends in Congress are wasting time & breath, & all the bills they may pass, will do us no good, unless men are sent here that will see these laws enforced."

From the archive, Black education was under assault from its earliest origins after emancipation: "A very respectable young colored Female, teacher of the colored School near Vienna Dorchester Co md. was assaulted on the road near the school House by a white man named Cyrus Stack."

In December 1865, 2500 Black Washingtonians petitioned Congress for the right to vote. "Experience teaches," they wrote, "that all reforms have their opponents. The same experience also teaches that apprehensions of evil arising from reforms founded in justice, are but seldom if ever realized."

Same as it ever was

After emancipation, Black schoolteacher & future Alabama state legislator William V. Turner reported to the Freedmen's Bureau that local officials were illegally withholding food assistance from Black mothers, telling them it "is not for negroes, but for the poor white women."

A Black veteran, Sergeant Joe Brown, testified that he was attacked by white cops in Memphis for having served in the military: "he then stepped back a few paces & ran up and struck me with his club, on the head."

“…the longor you keep my Child from me the longor you will have to burn in hell and the qwicer youll get their…” Spotswood Rice, a Black soldier in the US Army, to a Missouri woman who held his daughter in slavery, #otd 1864

The Freedmen and Southern Society Project is a terrific resource and everyone should use it!

As we begin the 1st few weeks of classes, a reminder that FSSP hosts a large collection of classroom-ready documents related to slavery & its destruction. These first-hand testimonies of enslaved people, Black soldiers, & officials give life to lessons on slavery & the contested arc of emancipation.

The latest issue of Scholarly Editing by ‪‪@editorial-notes.bsky.social‬ features an important essay on how to use documentary editing assignments to help students grapple w the legacies of inequalities, esp in instances where teaching abt these topics is banned. Highly recommend!

We hope you'll join us for today's Annual Meeting sessions and again tomorrow for Rachel Lane's lightning talk about "My Hat Is In the Drink: The Story Behind the Cocktail Inspired by TR’s Unprecedented Run for a Third Term." All Annual Meeting info: www.documentaryediting.org/wordpress/?p...

After emancipation, Green Jones testified that he was dragged from his home & brutally beaten by white vigilantes for daring to rent land & employ other formerly enslaved people. The men told him "that they would not allow negroes to live off to themselves."

After emancipation, Elizabeth Weden, who was sold away from her family in 1845, managed to locate her father, writing that "I am at this place trying to do the best I can for my self. times are harde here & money scearse. I wish to leve this place, & move out to whare you are."

After emancipation, Elizabeth Weden, who was sold away from her family in 1845, managed to locate her father, writing that "I am at this place trying to do the best I can for my self. times are harde here & money scearse. I wish to leve this place, & move out to whare you are."

Formerly enslaved ppl like Richmond Body regularly had their wages stolen by white employers. He explained: "Mr Beckwith has had all of our part of the crop attached claiming that we were owing him a very large amount– I dont' know what we can owe him for we never have received any thing."

After they won their freedom, formerly enslaved ppl from coastal VA staged a daring raid to rescue their loved ones from slavery. When they were cut off by white locals seeking to kill them or return them to slavery, a desperate struggle ensued.

After they won their freedom, formerly enslaved ppl from coastal VA staged a daring raid to rescue their loved ones from slavery. When they were cut off by white locals seeking to kill them or return them to slavery, a desperate struggle ensued.

The Commander of the U.S.S. Dale reported a Rebel attack on a self-directed community of formerly enslaved ppl: "At early dawn they fired a volley though the house; as the alarmed people sprang nearly naked from their beds & rushed forth frantic with fear, they were shot, arrested or knocked down."

Facing eviction to restore their land to former enslavers, Bayley Wyat denounced the government's orders as an affront to justice: "Our wives, our children, our husbands, has been sold over & over again to purchase the lands we now locates upon; for that reason we have a divine right to the land."

👇🏾

After Maryland abolished slavery on November 1, 1864, Jane Kamper complained that her former enslaver "told me that I was free but that my Children Should be bound to [him]" & "locked my Children up so that I could not find them."

In June 1863, Harry McMillan testified abt his experiences in slavery in Georgia & South Carolina. Here he describes the extreme working conditions endured by enslaved people. freedmen.umd.edu/mcmilln.htm

Black Corporal James Henry Gooding of the famed 54th Massachusetts wrote to President Lincoln protesting the inferior pay of Black troops: "all we lack, is a paler hue, and a better acquaintance with the Alphabet. Now Your Excellency, We have done a Soldiers Duty. Why cant we have a Soldiers pay?"

Louisiana enslavers, witnessing the increasingly free movement & demands of enslaved people, complained to the Union Army that "we are in a State of anarchy."

Louisiana enslavers, witnessing the increasingly free movement & demands of enslaved people, complained to the Union Army that "we are in a State of anarchy."

Witnessing the mass exodus of enslaved people from their grasp, Georgia enslavers petitioned the Confederate gov't for swift action as "the injury inflicted upon the interests of the citizens of the Confederate States by this now constant drain is immense."

Witnessing the mass exodus of enslaved people from their grasp, Georgia enslavers petitioned the Confederate gov't for swift action as "the injury inflicted upon the interests of the citizens of the Confederate States by this now constant drain is immense."

Dependent on her son for support, Black Pennsylvania woman Jane Welcome asked Abraham Lincoln "wether I can have my son relest from the arme." "he is all the subport I have now" she explained, as "his father is Dead and his brother that wase all the help that I had."

Dependent on her son for support, Black Pennsylvania woman Jane Welcome asked Abraham Lincoln "wether I can have my son relest from the arme." "he is all the subport I have now" she explained, as "his father is Dead and his brother that wase all the help that I had."

After winning his freedom, John Q A Dennis wrote the secretary of war to ask for custody of his enslaved children. "I went too know of you Sir is," he asked, "is it possible for me to go & take my Children from those men that keep them in S[l]avery"

After winning his freedom, John Q A Dennis wrote the secretary of war to ask for custody of his enslaved children. "I went too know of you Sir is," he asked, "is it possible for me to go & take my Children from those men that keep them in S[l]avery"

Unable to collect her wages after emancipation, Levinah Malby wrote to the military "please do me a peace of kineness if you please Sur... to see that I shall get my part of the crop that I have laboured for in the year of our freedom."

Unable to collect her wages after emancipation, Levinah Malby wrote to the military "please do me a peace of kineness if you please Sur... to see that I shall get my part of the crop that I have laboured for in the year of our freedom."

An enslaved woman in Missouri writes to her husband in the 2nd Missouri Colored Infantry, "Send me some money as soon as you can for me & my child are almost naked."

An enslaved woman in Missouri writes to her husband in the 2nd Missouri Colored Infantry, "Send me some money as soon as you can for me & my child are almost naked."