First Fruits of Freedom: The Migration of Former Slaves and Their Search for Equality in Worcester, Massachusetts, 1862-1900

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 1 The Guns of War 11 2 The Prettiest Blue Mens I Had Ever Seed 27 3 These Are the Children of This Revolution, the Promising First Fruits of the War 48 4 A New Promise of Freedom and Dignity 88 5 A Community within a Community 130 Epilogue 174 Appendix 179 Notes 181 Bibliography 215 Index 225 This page intentionally left blank Illustrations Group of contrabands, Cumberland Landing, Virginia, 1862 30 “Headquarters of Vincent Collyer, superintendent of the poor at New Berne N.C.” 37 Horace James 40 Isaac Mason 52 “Freed negroes coming into our lines at Newbern, North Carolina” 57 Lunsford Lane 63 Yankee schoolteachers in front of their home in New Bern, c. 1863 66 Isaiah Allen in 1900 101 “Normal School teachers, at or near Norfolk, Virginia,” c. 1865 105 The Robert Morse family, North Brookfield, Massachusetts, 1901 109 Bethany Veney 111 Teacher Sarah Ella Wilson and her class 114 The George Wiggins family home 117 John Street Baptist Church, c. 1920 132 ...