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Title details for Black Litigants in the Antebellum American South by Kimberly M. Welch - Available

Black Litigants in the Antebellum American South

by Kimberly M. Welch
ebook
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In the antebellum Natchez district, in the heart of slave country, black people sued white people in all-white courtrooms. They sued to enforce the terms of their contracts, recover unpaid debts, recuperate back wages, and claim damages for assault. They sued in conflicts over property and personal status. And they often won. Based on new research conducted in courthouse basements and storage sheds in rural Mississippi and Louisiana, Kimberly Welch draws on over 1,000 examples of free and enslaved black litigants who used the courts to protect their interests and reconfigure their place in a tense society.
To understand their success, Welch argues that we must understand the language that they used — the language of property, in particular — to make their claims recognizable and persuasive to others and to link their status as owner to the ideal of a free, autonomous citizen. In telling their stories, Welch reveals a previously unknown world of black legal activity, one that is consequential for understanding the long history of race, rights, and civic inclusion in America.
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subjects

Law Multi-Cultural Sociology Nonfiction

Languages

English

In the antebellum Natchez district, in the heart of slave country, black people sued white people in all-white courtrooms. They sued to enforce the terms of their contracts, recover unpaid debts, recuperate back wages, and claim damages for assault. They sued in conflicts over property and personal status. And they often won. Based on new research conducted in courthouse basements and storage sheds in rural Mississippi and Louisiana, Kimberly Welch draws on over 1,000 examples of free and enslaved black litigants who used the courts to protect their interests and reconfigure their place in a tense society.
To understand their success, Welch argues that we must understand the language that they used — the language of property, in particular — to make their claims recognizable and persuasive to others and to link their status as owner to the ideal of a free, autonomous citizen. In telling their stories, Welch reveals a previously unknown world of black legal activity, one that is consequential for understanding the long history of race, rights, and civic inclusion in America.
Expand title description text
Law Multi-Cultural Sociology Nonfiction
  • Details

    Publisher:
    The University of North Carolina Press

    Kindle Book
    ISBN: 9781469636467
    Release date: January 2, 2018

    OverDrive Read
    ISBN: 9781469636467
    File size: 4778 KB
    Release date: January 2, 2018

    EPUB ebook
    ISBN: 9781469636467
    File size: 4783 KB
    Release date: January 2, 2018

    Open EPUB ebook
    ISBN: 9781469636467
    File size: 9964 KB
    Release date: January 2, 2018

  • Creators
  • Formats
    Kindle Book
    OverDrive Read
    EPUB ebook
    Open EPUB ebook
  • Languages
    English