Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Fuente, Alejandro de la, 1963- author.

Title Becoming free, becoming Black : race, freedom, and law in Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana / Alejandro de la Fuente, Ariela J. Gross
Published Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 2020
©2020

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xiv, 281 pages) : illustrations (black and white), maps (black and white)
Series Studies in legal history
Studies in legal history.
Contents "A Negro and by consequence an alien" : local regulations and the making of race, 1500s-1700s -- The "inconvenience" of Black freedom : manumission, 1500s-1700s -- "The natural right of all mankind" : claiming freedom in the Age of Revolution, 1760-1830 -- "Rules ... for their expulsion" : foreclosing freedom, 1830-1860 -- "Not of the same blood" : policing racial boundaries, 1830-1860 -- Conclusion: "Home-born citizens" : the significance of free people of color
Summary Shows that the law of freedom, not slavery, determined the way that race developed over time in three slave societies
"How did Africans become 'blacks' in the Americas? Becoming Free, Becoming Black tells the story of enslaved and free people of color who used the law to claim freedom and citizenship for themselves and their loved ones. Their communities challenged slaveholders' efforts to make blackness synonymous with slavery. Looking closely at three slave societies--Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana--Alejandro de la Fuente and Ariela J. Gross demonstrate that the law of freedom--not slavery--established the meaning of blackness in law. Contests over freedom determined whether and how it was possible to move from slave to free status, and whether claims to citizenship would be tied to racial identity. Laws regulating the lives and institutions of free people of color created the boundaries between black and white, the rights reserved to white people, and the degradations imposed only on black people" -- Publisher's description
Analysis Afro-Cubans Race and citizenship
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Description based on print version and online resource, viewed April 7, 2023
Subject Black people -- America -- History
Slavery -- America -- History
Black people -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- America -- History
African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- History
Free African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- History
Free Black people -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- America -- History
Free African Americans -- Race identity -- History
Slavery -- Law and legislation -- Cuba -- History
Slavery -- Law and legislation -- Louisiana -- History
Slavery -- Law and legislation -- Virginia -- History
Enslaved persons.
Enslavement
Enslaved Persons
enslaved people.
African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc.
Black people
Black people -- Legal status, laws, etc.
Race relations
Slavery
Slavery -- Law and legislation
SUBJECT America -- Race relations -- History
Subject America
Cuba
Louisiana
Virginia
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
Author Gross, Ariela J., 1965- author
ISBN 9781108612951
1108612954
1108612598
9781108612593