Freedom Was Their North Star: Formerly Enslaved Women's Efforts to Secure and Define Freedom During the American Civil War

Abstract

Formerly enslaved women sought to secure and define freedom for themselves during the course of the American Civil War. Taking advantage of the chaos of war, which fractured the stability of the institution of slavery in the South, enslaved women made informed decisions about their actions. Examining their lives behind Union lines, from their vantage point, throughout the war years, their countless decisions, conflicts, and challenges illuminate their struggle to take the reins on their own free lives. From leaving the plantations of their captivity, to efforts to create free lives, autonomous from the assumed authority of their white counterparts, enslaved women’s day-to-day choices brought the demise of slavery and challenged the racial status quo. Far from passive recipients of freedom, Black women had ideas about what freedom could be, and strove to make those ideas a reality.