Focusing on slave women on the rice plantations of low-country South Carolina; Leslie Schwalm offers a thoroughly researched account of their vital roles in antebellum plantation life and in the wartime collapse of slavery; and their efforts as freedwomen to recover from the impact of war while redefining life and labor in the postbellum period.
#3486017 in Books 2004-07-28Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x 1.50 x 6.13l; 1.94 #File Name: 0252029194472 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Scholarship and Research at Its Best~~~~~By AvidReaderIf your brother had been murdered by an angry mob because he published a newspaper that called slavery a sin; how would you react? Owen Lovejoy vowed on his brother's grave to spend the rest of his life at war with slavery. And he kept his vow. Lovejoy was an ordained minister who was used mightily by God both inside and outside the church. He preached the Bible on Sunday and then the rest of the week sheltered fugitives on the Underground Railroad and ended up elected to Congress as a U.S. Senator where he used his seat to confront evil. My favorite part was just before the Civil War when Lovejoy confronts the slaveholding Senators on the floor of Congress with a speech demanding that they free their slaves to prevent the coming bloodshed of the Civil War. They taunt him back and we all know what happens next. This book is great for giving an eye-witness account to the atmosphere that resulted in a nation ripped apart. While today's historians are still debating what caused the Civil War; Lovejoy made it clear "this is nothing other than a proslavery rebellion."When you spend hours straining your eyesight to read the tiny print of the official Congressional record; you really start to appreciate a book like this which provides a much easier to read version with very helpful editing. This is a fascinating collection of Owen Lovejoy's speeches and writings; which Civil War historians and scholars will enjoy browsing. The amount of research done by the authors is astounding; and will help many future scholars in their research. This book is different from a typical biography as this is written in a more scholarly style. We especially found the editorial notes helpful to understand the context. This book is definitely for the die hard students of Civil War history with interesting historical details unfamiliar to most people. However this is not for people looking for a biography as most of this is long speeches that can be mined for quotes. Readers used to novels or biographies might be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of material; but this is meant for research not entertainment.We just wish this book had explored more of the tight friendship between Lovejoy and Lincoln; but since that appears to be the next book by the authors; we have something to look forward to.
