Intimate Reconstructions


Book Description

In Intimate Reconstructions, Catherine Jones considers how children shaped, and were shaped by, Virginia’s Reconstruction. Jones argues that questions of how to define, treat, reform, or protect children were never far from the surface of public debate and private concern in post–Civil War Virginia. Through careful examination of governmental, institutional, and private records, the author traces the unpredictable paths black and white children traveled through this tumultuous period. Putting children at the center of the narrative reveals the unevenness of the transitions that defined Virginia in the wake of the Civil War: from slavery to freedom, from war to peace, and from secession to a restored but fractured union. While some children emerged from the war under the protection of families, others navigated treacherous circumstances on their own. The reconfiguration of postwar households, and disputes over children’s roles within them, fueled broader debates over public obligations to protect all children. The reorganization of domestic life was a critical proving ground for Reconstruction. Freedpeople’s efforts to recover children strained against white Virginians’ efforts to retain privileges formerly undergirded by slavery. At the same time, orphaned children, particularly those who populated the streets of Virginia’s cities, prompted contentious debate over who had responsibility for their care, as well as rights to their labor. By revisiting conflicts over the practices of orphan asylums, apprenticeship, and adoption, Intimate Reconstructions demonstrates that race continued to shape children’s postwar lives in decisive ways. In private and public, children were at the heart of Virginians’ struggles over the meanings of emancipation and Confederate defeat.




Intimate Reconstructions


Book Description

"This book examines the paths of black and white children, and disputes over rights and responsibilities with regard to them, through the tumultuous period following emancipation and Confederate defeat"--Provided by publisher.




Declarations of Dependence


Book Description

In this highly original study, Gregory Downs argues that the most American of wars, the Civil War, created a seemingly un-American popular politics, rooted not in independence but in voluntary claims of dependence. Through an examination of the pleas and




Slavery, Fatherhood, and Paternal Duty in African American Communities over the Long Nineteenth Century


Book Description

Analyzing published and archival oral histories of formerly enslaved African Americans, Libra R. Hilde explores the meanings of manhood and fatherhood during and after the era of slavery, demonstrating that black men and women articulated a surprisingly broad and consistent vision of paternal duty across more than a century. Complicating the tendency among historians to conflate masculinity within slavery with heroic resistance, Hilde emphasizes that, while some enslaved men openly rebelled, many chose subtle forms of resistance in the context of family and local community. She explains how a significant number of enslaved men served as caretakers to their children and shaped their lives and identities. From the standpoint of enslavers, this was particularly threatening--a man who fed his children built up the master's property, but a man who fed them notions of autonomy put cracks in the edifice of slavery. Fatherhood highlighted the agonizing contradictions of the condition of enslavement, and to be an involved father was to face intractable dilemmas, yet many men tried. By telling the story of the often quietly heroic efforts that enslaved men undertook to be fathers, Hilde reveals how formerly enslaved African Americans evaluated their fathers (including white fathers) and envisioned an honorable manhood.




Crime Reconstruction


Book Description

Crime Reconstruction, Second Edition is an updated guide to the interpretation of physical evidence, written for the advanced student of forensic science, the practicing forensic generalist and those with multiple forensic specialists. It is designed to assist reconstructionists with understanding their role in the justice system; the development and refinement of case theory' and the limits of physical evidence interpretation. Chisum and Turvey begin with chapters on the history and ethics of crime reconstruction and then shift to the more applied subjects of reconstruction methodology and practice standards. The volume concludes with chapters on courtroom conduct and evidence admissibility to prepare forensic reconstructionists for what awaits them when they take the witness stand. Crime Reconstruction, Second Edition, remains an unparalleled watershed collaborative effort by internationally known, qualified, and respected forensic science practitioner holding generations of case experience among them. Forensic pioneer such as W. Jerry Chisum, John D. DeHaan, John I. Thorton, and Brent E. Turvey contribute chapters on crime scene investigation, arson reconstruction, trace evidence interpretation, advanced bloodstain interpretation, and ethics. Other chapters cover the subjects of shooting incident reconstruction, interpreting digital evidence, staged crime scenes, and examiner bias. Rarely have so many forensic giants collaborated, and never before have the natural limits of physical evidence been made so clear. - Updates to the majority of chapters, to comply with the NAS Report - New chapters on forensic science, crime scene investigation, wound pattern analysis, sexual assault reconstruction, and report writing - Updated with key terms, chapter summaries, discussion questions, and a comprehensive glossary; ideal for those teaching forensic science and crime reconstruction subjects at the college level - Provides clear practice standards and ethical guidelines for the practicing forensic scientist




The Global History of Black Girlhood


Book Description

The Global History of Black Girlhood boldly claims that Black girls are so important we should know their histories. Yet, how do we find the stories and materials we need to hear Black girls’ voices and understand their lives? Corinne T. Field and LaKisha Michelle Simmons edit a collection of writings that explores the many ways scholars, artists, and activists think and write about Black girls' pasts. The contributors engage in interdisciplinary conversations that consider what it means to be a girl; the meaning of Blackness when seen from the perspectives of girls in different times and places; and the ways Black girls have imagined themselves as part of a global African diaspora. Thought-provoking and original, The Global History of Black Girlhood opens up new possibilities for understanding Black girls in the past while offering useful tools for present-day Black girls eager to explore the histories of those who came before them. Contributors: Janaé E. Bonsu, Ruth Nicole Brown, Tara Bynum, Casidy Campbell, Katherine Capshaw, Bev Palesa Ditsie, Sarah Duff, Cynthia Greenlee, Claudrena Harold, Anasa Hicks, Lindsey Jones, Phindile Kunene, Denise Oliver-Velez, Jennifer Palmer, Vanessa Plumly, Shani Roper, SA Smythe, Nastassja Swift, Dara Walker, Najya Williams, and Nazera Wright




Virginians and Their Histories


Book Description

Histories of Virginia have traditionally traced the same significant but narrow lines, overlooking whole swathes of human experience crucial to an understanding of the commonwealth. With Virginians and Their Histories, Brent Tarter presents a fresh, new interpretive narrative that incorporates the experiences of all residents of Virginia from the earliest times to the first decades of the twenty-first century, affording readers the most comprehensive and wide-ranging account of Virginia’s story. Tarter draws on primary resources for every decade of the Old Dominion's English-language history, as well as a wealth of recent scholarship that illuminates in new ways how demographic changes, economic growth, social and cultural changes, and religious sensibilities and gender relationships have affected the manner in which Virginians have lived. Virginians and Their Histories interweaves the experiences of Virginians of different racial and ethnic backgrounds and classes, representing a variety of eras and regions, to understand what they separately and jointly created, and how they responded to economic, political, and social changes on a national and even global level. That large context is essential for properly understanding the influences of Virginians on, and the responses of Virginians to, the constantly changing world in which they have lived. This groundbreaking work of scholarship—generously illustrated and engagingly written—will become the definitive account for general readers and all students of Virginia’s diverse and vibrant history.




Voices of American Women's History from Reconstruction to the Present


Book Description

This collection of historical and contemporary writing by women argues that, in addition to gender, identity markers such as race, class, religion, citizenship, sexuality, and marital status have influenced women's lives in the United States for more than 200 years. Voices of American Women's History illustrates that gender alone has never defined women's experiences in America. Women from diverse backgrounds are represented in media and documents that include pamphlets, book excerpts, personal narratives, photographs, advertisements, congressional testimonies, and Supreme Court rulings. Such issues as abortion, marriage equality, domestic violence, and gender parity are shown from historical and contemporary angles, as this collection of primary sources allows readers and students to easily trace how women's lives and histories have and continue to intersect. With a historical context for each selection, the book also features structured activities to help teachers with class discussion and exams, including suggestions for further reading, document analysis, essay questions, and manageable research assignments.




Intimate Histories


Book Description

Transnational connections between African American and German histories in the “century of extremes” are often misunderstood or overlooked. Intimate Histories uncovers important links and sites of struggle in the history of race, the Nazi period, and the fight for civil rights in both East and West Germany. Historical investigations take their points of departure from anti-miscegenation laws, forced sterilizations, or casual sexual, cross-racial encounters to frame the shared pasts of African Americans against broader developments surrounding German Fascism, the Cold War, and global struggles for Black liberation.




Embattled Freedom


Book Description

The Civil War was just days old when the first enslaved men, women, and children began fleeing their plantations to seek refuge inside the lines of the Union army as it moved deep into the heart of the Confederacy. In the years that followed, hundreds of thousands more followed in a mass exodus from slavery that would destroy the system once and for all. Drawing on an extraordinary survey of slave refugee camps throughout the country, Embattled Freedom reveals as never before the everyday experiences of these refugees from slavery as they made their way through the vast landscape of army-supervised camps that emerged during the war. Amy Murrell Taylor vividly reconstructs the human world of wartime emancipation, taking readers inside military-issued tents and makeshift towns, through commissary warehouses and active combat, and into the realities of individuals and families struggling to survive physically as well as spiritually. Narrating their journeys in and out of the confines of the camps, Taylor shows in often gripping detail how the most basic necessities of life were elemental to a former slave's quest for freedom and full citizenship. The stories of individuals--storekeepers, a laundress, and a minister among them--anchor this ambitious and wide-ranging history and demonstrate with new clarity how contingent the slaves' pursuit of freedom was on the rhythms and culture of military life. Taylor brings new insight into the enormous risks taken by formerly enslaved people to find freedom in the midst of the nation's most destructive war.