The experiences of African American families varied during the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. One constant, however, was the desire to legalize marriages and reconstitute families. African American women also had to contend with the forced apprenticeship of their children by former enslavers and negotiating fair compensation for their work. African American women throughout the South exerted their right to be treated equally with white women; and respectability was a core issue for African American women in the context of marriage, family, work, dress, aesthetics, politics, and rights of citizenship.
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Harriet Tubman Davis
Harriet Tubman Davis, widow of the late Nelson Davis of the US Colored Troops, who served in Company G of the 8th United States Colored Volunteer Infantry during the American Civil War, received a pension in 1890 (although the Union Army pensions on a whole have not yet digitized, Harriet Tubman’s pension has been digitized…
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Sojourner Truth
When the Civil War started, Sojourner Truth urged young men to join the Union cause and organized supplies for Black troops. After the war, she was honored with an invitation to the White House and became involved with the Freedmen’s Bureau, helping freed slaves find jobs and build new lives. While in Washington, DC, she…
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The Life of Lucy Higgs Nichols
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln after the Battle of Antietam on September 22, 1862, one year into the Civil War. However, the Executive Order could not be enforced in the Confederacy during the war. The Proclamation did present the opportunity for African Americans to fight for their freedom and serve the…