Between Slavery and Freedom

Julie Winch is professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where she specializes in the lives and genealogies of African Americans in the Revolutionary era and the Early American Republic.

• TimelineIntroduction – On Liberty’s BorderlandsChapter One – Property or Persons: Black Freedom in Colonial America, 1513-1770Chapter Two – In Liberty’s Cause: Black Freedom inRevolutionary America, 1770-1790Chapter Three – Race, Liberty and Citizenship in the New Nation, 1790-1820Chapter Four – “We Will Have Our Rights”: RedefiningBlack Freedom, 1820-1850Chapter Five – “No Rights Which the White Man Was Bound to Respect”:Black Freedom and Black Citizenship, 1850-1861Epilogue – Black Freedom, White FreedomSuggested ReadingsDocuments

Winch describes how the end of institutionalized slavery and the freeing of African American slaves brought the United States closer to achieving true democracy. However, along with liberty for all came a widespread social inclination to redefine freedom and equality so the concepts could be applied differently depending on racial characteristics. These changing definitions were codified in social rules set in place to provide a constant reminder about race and about the places in society that the color of one’s skin mandated for black and white people alike. The five chapters that comprise this brief book cover from the early years of Colonial America through emancipation and citizenship in the mid-19th century. The sections are followed by documents and portraits. Winch pokes and prods at the intangible space that lies between blacks and whites, freedom and liberty, and concludes that democracy cannot coexist with partiality. Verdict: History buffs, sociologists, and those interested in African American studies will be intrigued by Winch’s research.