J. David Dameron
African Americans in the Civil War: A Pictorial History of Courage and Pride highlights the war as never before. Large Format and lavishly illustrated with hundreds of images, including rare Civil War photographs, paintings, etchings, lithographs, and maps reproduced in full color. In its visual power and humanistic portrayal of the African American experience, the war comes alive in a newly focused perspective. While the Civil War was the bloodiest in American history, for African Americans, the war was also a quest for equality as human beings. The fight for fair treatment and an end to institutional slavery was only achieved through bloodshed on a horrific scale. The humanity and emotional drama of this conflict comes alive through first-person accounts and carefully selected illustrations. The narrative explores the pre-war rise of anti-slavery sentiment in a nation that bound human beings as slaves. The psychological and sociological battles waged by courageous abolitionists are highlighted with poignant vignettes. The words of Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and many others bring to life the physical scars, the emotional struggle, and the heart-felt pain of slavery. As the heated division between North and South erupts into war, the narrative focuses on the plight of inequality, even for freedmen living in the Union. Racial bias experienced by black surgeons and other professionals highlight the dilemma the United States faced in the early 1860s. Witness the plight of contrabands and slaves who desperately sought safety by following the North Star on a seemingly endless and dangerous journey. Several biographies focus on Harriet Tubman, Anna Douglass and the relevance of the Underground Railroad. As the war escalates into mass death on a scale never witnessed in history, President Lincoln emancipates all African Americans. The reader then explores the continued racial bias as black soldiers are denied equal pay and receive limited opportunities to serve their nation. Several focused stories then highlight the experiences of U.S. Colored Troops as they finally achieve the opportunity they so desperately desire, to fight in battle, as men. Through vivid, newly released photography, gaze into the eyes of the African American men and women that served their nation. Explore the actions of African Americans who won the Medal of Honor for battlefield heroics, both soldiers and sailors. The reader is also provided with experiences of African American women who served their brothers in arms as nurses. Witness the crude tools and techniques to save lives with nineteenth century medicine. Explore the statistics regarding populations, units, diseases, and casualties with a focus on African Americans. Selected speeches by Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth and several others highlight, in their own words, the plight, pain, suffering, and the wrongs associated with living in a world filled with oppression. Read of their tireless, life-long efforts to serve as champions for change in an illogical world. The reader is also provided short biographies of men such as Prince Rivers, Robert Smalls, Horace King, Martin R. Delany, William H. Carney, Hiram Revels, and others. There are also stories of women such as Susan King Baker Taylor, Elizabeth Keckley, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Anna Douglass. Their experiences and images, bring to life an invaluable presentation of the African American experience during the Civil War. The selfless service of African Americans during the Civil War settled forever the idea that slavery was acceptable in the United States. The war also secured freedom and equality for a people who were bound to servitude and subhuman treatment. And, within a span of just ten years, African Americans moved themselves from “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” to the U.S. Senate. A magnificent presentation awaits the reader through visual and textual portrayals in African Americans in the Civil War.
