My Work Among the Freedmen

Jonathan W. White is Associate Professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University and author and editor of twelve books, including Midnight in America: Darkness, Sleep, and Dreams during the Civil War.Lydia J. Davis serves as a University Fellow for Admission at Christopher Newport University.

Buss’s letters provide a fascinating look into the experiences of Northern women teaching in the Reconstruction South. That she returned again and again, to different locations, teaching at different sorts of schools, and that her letters demonstrate genuine interest in and commitment to the welfare and future of freedpeople makes this collection an invaluable resource for scholars and a pleasure for readers." —Michael T. Bernath, University of Miami, author of Confederate Minds: The Struggle for Intellectual Independence in the Civil War South"Harriet Buss’s work proved more than a novel adventure undertaken by some missionaries. While other white women typically lasted one season, Buss persisted. By bridging race, gender, and region, she helped to lay the foundation for African American public schools and present-day Shaw University. Her letters also reveal the real challenges posed by the Ku Klux Klan and Southern white derailers of Reconstruction as well as the failure of federal leadership. This compelling collection of letters reintroduces readers to Harriet Buss as a significant interlocutor for understanding the motivations, experiences, and achievements of white Northern women who labored on the Southern educational frontier." —From the foreword by Hilary Green, University of Alabama, author of Educational Reconstruction: African American Schools in the Urban South, 1865–1890