1 Teaching with Primary Sources—MTSU PRIMARY SOURCE SET EMANCIPATION DURING AND AFTER THE CIVIL WAR HISTORICAL BACKGROUND By 1860, slavery had existed on American soil for more than 240 years. Along with slavery, however, there existed a parallel history of emancipation, or freedom from slavery. In the years after the Revo- lutionary War, many of the northern states enacted gradual emancipation, some southern slaveholders manumitted their slaves, and anti-slavery reform efforts gained strength. Even after the reaction to Nat Turner’s 1830 rebellion closed many avenues to emancipation, enslaved people continued to run away, often making use of the Underground Rail- road. Still, on the eve of the Civil War, emancipa- tion remained a goal for about four million slaves across the South, including approximately 276,000 in Tennessee. From the beginning of the war, enslaved African Americans began to break down the bonds of slav- ery. The arrival of the Union army in Confederate territory provided the catalyst. Although the goal of the United States was to preserve the Union, not to end slavery, enslaved people escaped to Union military lines as soon as they had the opportunity. Former slaves’ assistance to the Union army im- pressed President Abraham Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring slaves in the Confederacy free. Although the proclamation did not apply to Union-occupied areas, including Tennessee, many bondspeople liv- ing in these areas claimed their freedom, and Afri- can American men began to join the Union army. With the war’s end in April 1865, all slaves gained their freedom. The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery for good. The challenging transition from slavery to freedom, however, continued for decades. Nonetheless, Af- rican Americans celebrated emancipation annually. Reading the Emancipation Proclamation / H.W. Herrick, del., J.W. Watts, sc. [1864, detail] FROM THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: From Slavery to Civil Rights (timeline) African American Odyssey The African-American Mosaic The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress (Collection Connections) America’s Story (Frederick Douglass, Aboli- tion in D.C., and Juneteenth) Today in History (Abolition in the District of Columbia, Emancipation Proclamation, The Fisk School, and Howard University) ALSO SEE: Emancipation (TPS-MTSU Content Resource) Underground Railroad (TPS-MTSU Primary Source Set) Views on the Emancipation Proclamation (TPS -MTSU Lesson Plan and Primary Source Set) The Emancipation Proclamation and Its Con- nection to the Thirteenth Amendment (TPS- MTSU Lesson Plan) Chronology of Emancipation (Freedmen and Southern Society Project Timeline) The End of Slavery: The Creation of the 13th Amendment (HarpWeek Web Site)
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Teaching with Primary Sources—MTSU
PRIMARY SOURCE SET EMANCIPATION DURING AND AFTER THE CIVIL WAR
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
By 1860, slavery had existed on American soil for more than 240 years. Along with slavery, however, there existed a parallel history of emancipation, or freedom from slavery. In the years after the Revo-lutionary War, many of the northern states enacted gradual emancipation, some southern slaveholders manumitted their slaves, and anti-slavery reform efforts gained strength. Even after the reaction to Nat Turner’s 1830 rebellion closed many avenues to emancipation, enslaved people continued to run away, often making use of the Underground Rail-road. Still, on the eve of the Civil War, emancipa-tion remained a goal for about four million slaves across the South, including approximately 276,000 in Tennessee.
From the beginning of the war, enslaved African Americans began to break down the bonds of slav-ery. The arrival of the Union army in Confederate territory provided the catalyst. Although the goal of the United States was to preserve the Union, not to end slavery, enslaved people escaped to Union military lines as soon as they had the opportunity.
Former slaves’ assistance to the Union army im-pressed President Abraham Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring slaves in the Confederacy free. Although the proclamation did not apply to Union-occupied areas, including Tennessee, many bondspeople liv-ing in these areas claimed their freedom, and Afri-can American men began to join the Union army.
With the war’s end in April 1865, all slaves gained their freedom. The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery for good. The challenging transition from slavery to freedom, however, continued for decades. Nonetheless, Af-rican Americans celebrated emancipation annually.
Reading the Emancipation Proclamation / H.W.
Herrick, del., J.W. Watts, sc. [1864, detail]
FROM THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: From Slavery to Civil Rights (timeline) African American Odyssey The African-American Mosaic
The Frederick Douglass Papers at the Library of Congress (Collection Connections)
America’s Story (Frederick Douglass, Aboli-tion in D.C., and Juneteenth)
Today in History (Abolition in the District of Columbia, Emancipation Proclamation, The Fisk School, and Howard University)
ALSO SEE: Emancipation (TPS-MTSU Content Resource)
This primary source set begins with sources that illustrate the history of emancipation in the United States before the Civil War. This will help stu-dents recognize that emancipation, though rare throughout most of the history of slavery in the United States, was not a foreign concept in 1861. Most of these sources date to the antebellum peri-od, and “Go down, Moses” (published in 1917) is a spiritual that expresses the yearning for freedom under slavery. *For each of the first four sources in this section, ask students what more they would like to know about this emancipation experience?”
The second section focuses on wartime emancipa-tion. Several sources illustrate the significant role of President Abraham Lincoln, the Union army, and the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln was a hero to many former slaves, and the Library has numerous sources about him as the “Great Emanci-pator.” Sources related to Lincoln tend to portray emancipation as a “top-down” event. Yet, many African Americans helped to bring about their own freedom and the freedom of their families. *Ask students to point out some sources that demon-strate this “grassroots” nature of emancipation, and also ask them why they think that more sources exist that illustrate the “top-down” aspect rather than the “grassroots” quality of emancipation.
The section on postwar emancipation looks at the transition from slavery to freedom, particularly during the immediate aftermath of the war. Family reunification, postwar violence, the establishment of schools and churches, and westward migration are all depicted. *Ask students which sources they find most surprising.
The final section focuses on the memory and cele-bration of emancipation. This section includes a “family record” marketed to African Americans by W.H. Cowell of Martin, Tennessee, and a portrait of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, a novelist and poet who wrote extensively about emancipation. *Ask students to compare and contrast the 1866 and 1905 images of emancipation celebrations.
Watch meeting, Dec. 31, 1862--Waiting for the hour /
Heard & Moseley, Cartes de Visite, 10 Tremont Row,
Boston. [c1863]
Jesse L. Berch, quartermaster sergeant, 25 Wisconsin Regiment of Racine, Wis. [and] Frank M. Rockwell, postmaster 22 Wis-consin of Geneva, Wis. / J.P. Ball’s Photo-graphic Gallery, No. 30 West 4th St., betw. Main and Walnut Sts. Cincinnati, O.. [1862] (For more information about this image, see the photo essay on the Oxford African American Studies Center Web site.)
[Harriet Tubman, full-length
portrait, standing with hands on
back of a chair] [between ca.
1860 and 1875]
President Lin-coln, writing the Proclama-tion of Free-dom. January 1st, 1863 / painted by [David Gil-mour] Blythe ; lithogr. and printed in col-ors by Ehr-gott, Forbrig-er & Co. Cin-cinnati, O. [1863]
TEXTS: Extracts from documents in the office of the General Superintendent of Refugees and Freedmen:
headquarters, Memphis, Tennessee, March 1865 [1865] (See pp. 11-24 by Mrs. Canfield). Address by Hon. Frederick Douglass, delivered in the Congregational Church, Washington, D.D.,
April 16, 1883: on the twenty-first anniversary of emancipation in the District of Columbia [1883] Emancipation address: our duties and how to discharge them, delivered in the town hall of Salem,
Va., January 2, 1893,[...]/by Prof. Daniel B. Williams…; with an introduction by Prof. R.G. Chissell… [1893]
Thirty years a slave. From bondage to freedom. The institution of slavery as seen on the plantation and in the home of the planter. Autobiography of Louis Hughes [1897]
[Mrs. Ella Boney] [Oral History Interview] [1938]
The first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation
before the cabinet / painted by F.B. Carpenter ; en-
CITATIONS: Emancipation During and After the Civil War
Teachers: Providing these primary source replicas without source clues may enhance the inquiry experience for students. This list of citations is supplied for reference purposes to you and your students. We have followed the Chicago Manual of Style format, one of the formats recommended by the Library of Congress, for each entry below, minus the access date. The access date for each of these entries is 5/8/13.
Herrick, H.W., del., and J.W. Watts, sc., “Reading the Emancipation Proclamation / H.W. Herrick, del., J.W. Watts, sc. Print. [Hartford, Conn.: S.A. Peters and Co.], c1864. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003678043/
Waud, Alfred R. “Contrabands, Newport News, 1861.” Drawing. 1861. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004660979/
Fenollosa, Manuel, and L., R.T. “Emancipation hymn: quarette & chorus composed and dedicated by per-mission to the Salem Union League by Manuel Fenollosa, Salem, Mass., June 1863; [words by R T. L.] Sheet Music. Boston: Oliver Ditson & Co., c1863. From Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Col-lections Division, The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/scsmbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(scsm000056))
Russell, William. “$200 reward. Ranaway from the subscriber on the night of Thursday, the 30th of Sep-tember. Five negro slaves … Wm. Russell. St. Louis, Oct. 1, 1847.” Broadside. St. Louis, 1847. From Library of Congress, An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/rbpebib:@field(NUMBER+@band(rbpe+08600200))
Hutchinson, Jesse, Jr. “The Fugitive’s Song.” Sheet Music. Boston: Henry Prentiss, 1845. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661459/
“The resurrection of Henry Box Brown at Philadelphia, who escaped from Richmond Va. In a bx 3 feet long 2 ½ ft. deep and 2 ft wide.” Print. [New York]: Publ. by A. Donnelly, no. 19 ½ Courtland St., N.Y. c1850. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004665363/
“Anti-Slavery Fair.” Broadside. Boston: Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, n.d. From Library of Con-gress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam005.html
“Certificate of Freedom of Harriet Bolling, Petersburg, Virginia, 1851.” Certificate. 1851. From Library of Congress, Manuscript Division. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart2.html
Burleigh, Harry Thacker. “Go down, Moses; Let my people go!. Negro Spirituals. 1917.” Sheet Music. New York, New York, G. Ricordi, 1917. From Duke University, Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/dukesm:@field(DOCID+@lit(ncdhasm.n0708))
Lindsley, H.B. “[Harriet Tubman, full-length portrait, standing with hands on back of a chair].” Photo-
graph. Between ca. 1860 and 1875. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://
www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003674596/
“Watch meeting, Dec. 31, 1862—Waiting for the hour / Heard & Moseley, Cartes de Visite, 10 Tremont Row, Boston.” Carte de Visite. c1863. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/98501210/
“President Lincoln, writing the Proclamation of Freedom. January 1st, 1863 / painted by [David Gilmour] Blythe; lithogr. And pringed in colors by Ehrgott, Forbriger & Co. Cincinnati, O. Print. [Pittsburgh, Pa.]: M. Depuy, [1863]. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004665377/
Ball, James Presley. “Jesse L. Berch, quartermaster sergeant, 25 Wisconsin Regiment of Racine, Wis. [and] Frank M. Rockwell, postmaster 22 Wisconsis of Geneva, Wis./J.P. Ball’s Photographic Gallery, No. 30 West 4th St., betw. Main and Walnut Sts. Cincinnati, O.” Photograph. 1862 Sept. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008678814/
Ritchie, Alexander Hay. “The first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation before the cabinet / painted by F.B. Carpenter; engraved by A.H. Ritchie.” Print. c1866. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photo-graphs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012648844/
Lincoln, Abraham. “The first edition of Abraham Lincoln’s final emancipation proclamation.” Broadside. Washington, D.C., Jan. 1, 1863. From Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, The Andrew Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/scsmbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(scsm001016))
“Emancipation. And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves … shall be free!” Print. Philadelphia: J.L. Magee, 1865. From Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/scsmbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(scsm000336))
“[Envelope], For President, Abraham Lincoln.” Envelope. New York: William P. Lyon & Whittemore, c. 1864. From Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, The Alfred Whital Stern Col-lection of Lincolniana. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/scsmbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(scsm000714))
Extracts from Documents in the Office of the General Superintendent of Refugees and Freedmen: Headquarters, Mem-phis, Tennessee, March, 1865. Memphis, Tenn.: Freedmen Press Print., 1865 From Library of Congress, African American Pamphlet Collection. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/rbaapcbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(rbaapc+31500))
Douglass, Frederick. Address by Hon. Frederick Douglass, delivered in the Congregational Church, Washington, D.D., April 16, 1883: on the twenty-first anniversary of emancipation in the District of Columbia. Pamphlet. Washington, D.C.: [s.n.], 1883. From Library of Congress, Daniel Murray Pamphlet Collection.http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/murraybib:@field(NUMBER+@band(lcrbmrp+t0a04))
Williams, Daniel B. Emancipation address: our duties and how to discharge them, delivered in the town hall of Sa-lem, Va., January 2, 1893, under the auspices of the Emancipation Club of Salem, with which was joined the Emanci-pation Club of Roanoke, Va./by Prof. Daniel B. Williams…; with an introduction by Prof. R.G. Chissell…. Pam-phlet. [Salem, Va.?: s.n.], c1893. From Library of Congress, African American Pamphlets from the Daniel A.P. Murray Collection, 1818-1907. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/murraybib:@field(NUMBER+@band(lcrbmrp+t0g06))
Hughes, Louis. Thirty years a slave. From bondage to freedom. The institution of slavery as seen on the plantation and in the home of the planter. Autobiography of Louis Hughes. Book. Milwaukee: South Side Printing Compa-ny, 1897. From Library of Congress, Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wis-consin, ca. 1820-1910. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lhbumbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(lhbum+21103))
Boney, Ella. “[Mrs. Ella Boney] [Oral History Interview].” Interview. November 26, 1938. From Library of Congress, American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936-1940. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=wpa1&fileName=16/1602/16020904/wpa116020904.db&recNum=0
Brownell, H.H., composer. “All slaves were made freemen by Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States.” Broadside. January 1, 1863. From Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Divi-sion, The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/scsmbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(scsm000846))
“The effects of the proclamation – freed Negroes coming into our lines at Newbern, North Carolina.” Print. Harper’s Weekly, 21 Feb. 1863. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95501775/
Boker, George H. “The Black Regiment. … Published by the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Col-ored Regiments. [1863?]” Song Sheet. [1863?] From Library of Congress, Rare Books and Special Collec-tions Division, America Singing: Nineteenth-Century Song Sheets. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/amss:@field(DOCID+@lit(cw100610))
“[Murfreesboro, Tenn., vicinity. Men repairing single-track railroad after the Battle of Stones River].” Photograph. 1863. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/cwp2003000847/PP/
“[Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters].” Photograph. [Between 1863 and 1865]. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010647216/
Currier & Ives, “The gallant charge of the fifty fourth Massachusetts (colored) regiment: on the rebel works at Fort Wagner, Morris Island, near Charleston, July 18th 1863, and death of Colonel Robt. G. Shaw.” Print. New York: Currier & Ives, 152 Nassau St., Sept. 11, c1863. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001699787/
“[Johnsonville, Tenn. Camp of Tennessee Colored Battery]. Photograph. [1864]. From Library of Con-gress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/cwp2003000850/PP/
Nast, Thomas, artist, and King & Baird, engraver. “Emancipation/Th. Nast; King & Baird, printers, 607 Sansam Street, Philadephia.” Print. Philadelphia: S. Bott, no. 43 South Third Street, c1865. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004665360/
“The gospel train/by.” Sheet Music. Cincinnati: John Church & Co., 1881. From Library of Congress, Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mussm:@field(NUMBER+@band(sm1881+06564))
U.S. Congress. “Resolution #11, 38th Cong., 2nd Sess.,” Statutes at Large, Vol. XIII, p. 567. Book. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1866; repr., Buffalo, N.Y.: Dennis & Co., Inc., 1964. From Library of Con-gress, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875.http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=013/llsl013.db&recNum=596
“[Freedmen’s school?, possibly in South Carolina] / Sam A. Cooley, photographer, Tenth Army Corps, Beaufort, S.C.” Photograph. Samuel A. Cooley, [between 1865 and 1870]. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/gld/item/2010647795/
Taylor, Jas. E. “Glimpses at the Freedmen – The Freedmen’s Union Industrial School, Richmond, Va. / from a sketch by Jas E. Taylor.” Print. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, v. 23, 22 Sept. 1866, p. 5. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/98501491/
“Ho for Kansas! Nashville, Tennessee, March 18, 1878.” Broadside. 1878. From Library of Congress, Af-rican American Odyssey. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart5.html
Waud, Alfred R. “[African American soldiers mustered out at Little Rock, Arkansas].” Print. Harper’s Weekly, v. 10, 19 May 1866, p. 308. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004660198/
Waud, Alfred R. “Scenes in Memphis, Tennessee, during the riot.” Print. Harper’s Weekly, 26 May 1866, p. 321. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/94507780/
White, Elizabeth. “All God’s Chillun’s Got Wings!” Print. Ca. 1933. From Library of Congress, African American Odyssey. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart5b.html
Dielman, Frederick. “Celebration of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia by the colored people, in Washington, April 19, 1866 / sketched by F. Dielman.” Print. Harper’s Weekly,12 May 1866. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/00651116/
Rosenthal, Max, and Lincoln, Abraham. “Proclamation of emancipation. The second Declaration of Inde-pendence! [L. Smith].” Print. Philadelphia: L. Smith, Jan. 1, 1863 [actually after April 15, 1865]. From Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lin-colniana. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/scsmbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(scsm000852))
E. Sasche & Co., “The shackle broken – by the genius of freedom / lith. & print by E. Sachse & Co.” Print. Baltimore: E. Sachse & Co., c1874. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003690777/
Cowell, W.H., “Family record. Before the war and since the war / Krebs Lithographing Company, Cin-cinnati.” Print. Cincinnati: Krebs Lithographing Company, c1880. From Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/91721220/
Harper, Frances Ellen Watkins. Iola Leroy; or, Shadows uplifted, by Frances E.W. Harper. Book. 2d. ed. Phila-delphia, Pa.: Garrigues Bros., 1893. From Library of Congress, The Nineteenth Century in Print: Books, digit-ized by the University of Michigan Library. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/ncpm:@field(DOCID+@lit(ULA17059159))
““Emancipation Day, Richmond, Va..” Photograph. [c1905] From Library of Congress, Touring Turn-of-the-Century America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/detr:@field(NUMBER+@band(det+4a12513))
“Negro G.A.R.veterans parading, New York City, May 30, 1912.” Photograph. 30 May 1912. From Li-brary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2003668501/
Jackson, Robert P. “Will you ever give the colored race a show: an appeal to Congress words and music by Robt. P. Jackson.” Sheet Music. Chicago, c1898. From Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, The Alfred Whital Stern Collection of Lincolniana. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/scsmbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(scsm000092))
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