Born into slavery in rural Louisiana; Rose Herera was bought and sold several times before being purchased by the De Hart family of New Orleans. Still a slave; she married and had children; who also became the property of the De Harts. But after Union forces captured New Orleans in 1862 during the American Civil War; Herera's owners fled to Havana; taking three of her small children with them. Beyond Freedom's Reach is the true story of one woman's quest to rescue her children from bondage.In a gripping; meticulously researched account; Adam Rothman lays bare the mayhem of emancipation during and after the Civil War. Just how far the rights of freed slaves extended was unclear to black and white people alike; and so when Mary De Hart returned to New Orleans in 1865 to visit friends; she was surprised to find herself taken into custody as a kidnapper. The case of Rose Herera's abducted children made its way through New Orleans' courts; igniting a custody battle that revealed the prospects and limits of justice during Reconstruction.Rose Herera's perseverance brought her children's plight to the attention of members of the U.S. Senate and State Department; who turned a domestic conflict into an international scandal. Beyond Freedom's Reach is an unforgettable human drama and a poignant reflection on the tangled politics of slavery and the hazards faced by so many Americans on the hard road to freedom.Beyond Freedom's Reach received the Jefferson Davis Award from the American Civil War Museum and the 2016 Margaret T. Lane/Virginia F. Saunders Memorial Research Award from the Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association. It was named a 2016 Book of the Year by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
#1310316 in Books 2015-10-12Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.20 x .90 x 6.30l; .0 #File Name: 0674088220272 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. I Hate to Admit it; But this is a Fantastic BookBy Danielle D. PaulusAuthor is a little arrogant in real life (He is a professor at University of Houston); but I 'gotta admit this was definitely a good book. It discusses the role African Americans played in causing their own emancipation! It also touches on how racism from the time can be seen today in the silence of historians on the matter. There is so much untaught history in this book!0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A MUST READ!!By KrisVery grateful to be able to read this book and even more grateful to have had the author as my professor once or twice. His book; in a few words; is incredibly well-researched and reads like a novel. The words simply leap off the page and provide a pocket of happiness during such a bleak epoch of history.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Very well written with a fine bibliography.By bobeddyuuThis book is a must for those who think of he pre-war "south" as a simple society of slaves and their masters. The role of "free blacks" (40% of Pensacola's population at one point) and of slaves who were hired out as workers in skilled trades is especially revealing. Should have a much wider readership. Very well written with a fine bibliography.
