Ipswich Public Library

No right to an honest living, the struggles of Boston's black workers in the Civil War era, Jacqueline Jones

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 449-501) and index

contains biographical information

mapsillustrations

index present

non fiction

No right to an honest living

bibliography

1356895258

Jacqueline Jones

the struggles of Boston's black workers in the Civil War era

"Before, during, and after the US Civil War, Boston's Black workers were barred from the skilled trades, factory work, and public-works projects. In Boston, as in cities across the North, white abolitionists focused virtually all their energies on the plight of enslaved Black Southerners, while refusing to address the challenges faced by their Black neighbors. The author presents inspiring and heart-wrenching stories of people-from day laborers and domestics to physicians and lawyers-who ingeniously forged careers in the face of monumental obstacles"--, Provided by publisher

Introduction: "Words are easy" -- Prelude: The Edloe sixty-six -- Part I: 1850-1860 -- The fugitive economy -- Underground commons -- The world of the streets -- Boston in the shadow of slavery -- Women in service -- Making a living in unsettled times -- Part II: 1861-1865 -- The politics of wartime work and charitable assistance -- Boston diaspora I -- "A higher standard of courage" -- Hardship on the homefront -- "False and exaggerated ideas of freedom" -- Part III: 1865-1875 -- Their suffering housekeepers -- Boston diaspora II -- White men demanding their own rights, but refusing to concede to others theirs -- Persistent industry -- "Safely doing injustice" to black Bostonians

Struggles of Boston's black workers in the Civil War era