The Black Laws in the Old Northwest
The Black Laws in the Old Northwest

Author: Stephen Middleton

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 1993-03-30

Total Pages: 460

ISBN-13: 0313064490

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Northwest Territory (now the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin), under the Ordinance of 1787, was a free jurisdiction. Yet, all of the states of the territory, except Wisconsin, adopted Black Laws, legislation designed to subjugate African Americans. For the first time, this book brings together the Black Laws of the Old Northwest. The documents in the volume include statutes, legislative reports and resolutions, and petitions and memorials produced by the state legislatures, government agencies, or concerned citizens. Together, the documents provide a history of racial discrimination in this free territory. After a brief prologue, Stephen Middleton organizes the documents by state. Within each state, the documents are arranged into sets on specific topics such as immigration laws, welfare and public education laws, and jury and testimony laws. Although in general the editor lets the documents speak for themselves, he introduces each set of documents with commentary pointing to the themes in the documents. The volume will be a valuable resource for both students and scholars concerned with African-American history.

The Bone and Sinew of the Land
The Bone and Sinew of the Land

Author: Anna-Lisa Cox

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2018-06-12

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1610398114

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The long-hidden stories of America's black pioneers, the frontier they settled, and their fight for the heart of the nation When black settlers Keziah and Charles Grier started clearing their frontier land in 1818, they couldn't know that they were part of the nation's earliest struggle for equality; they were just looking to build a better life. But within a few years, the Griers would become early Underground Railroad conductors, joining with fellow pioneers and other allies to confront the growing tyranny of bondage and injustice. The Bone and Sinew of the Land tells the Griers' story and the stories of many others like them: the lost history of the nation's first Great Migration. In building hundreds of settlements on the frontier, these black pioneers were making a stand for equality and freedom. Their new home, the Northwest Territory -- the wild region that would become present-day Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin -- was the first territory to ban slavery and have equal voting rights for all men. Though forgotten today, in their own time the successes of these pioneers made them the targets of racist backlash. Political and even armed battles soon ensued, tearing apart families and communities long before the Civil War. This groundbreaking work of research reveals America's forgotten frontier, where these settlers were inspired by the belief that all men are created equal and a brighter future was possible. Named one of Smithsonian's Best History Books of 2018

The Negro Motorist Green Book
The Negro Motorist Green Book

Author: Victor H. Green

Publisher: Colchis Books

Published:

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Negro Motorist Green Book was a groundbreaking guide that provided African American travelers with crucial information on safe places to stay, eat, and visit during the era of segregation in the United States. This essential resource, originally published from 1936 to 1966, offered a lifeline to black motorists navigating a deeply divided nation, helping them avoid the dangers and indignities of racism on the road. More than just a travel guide, The Negro Motorist Green Book stands as a powerful symbol of resilience and resistance in the face of oppression, offering a poignant glimpse into the challenges and triumphs of the African American experience in the 20th century.

William Wells and the Struggle for the Old Northwest
William Wells and the Struggle for the Old Northwest

Author: William Heath

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press

Published: 2015-03-11

Total Pages: 521

ISBN-13: 080615148X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Born to Anglo-American parents on the Appalachian frontier, captured by the Miami Indians at the age of thirteen, and adopted into the tribe, William Wells (1770–1812) moved between two cultures all his life but was comfortable in neither. Vilified by some historians for his divided loyalties, he remains relatively unknown even though he is worthy of comparison with such famous frontiersmen as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett. William Heath’s thoroughly researched book is the first biography of this man-in-the-middle. A servant of empire with deep sympathies for the people his country sought to dispossess, Wells married Chief Little Turtle’s daughter and distinguished himself as a Miami warrior, as an American spy, and as an Indian agent whose multilingual skills made him a valuable interpreter. Heath examines pioneer life in the Ohio Valley from both white and Indian perspectives, yielding rich insights into Wells’s career as well as broader events on the post-revolutionary American frontier, where Anglo-Americans pushing westward competed with the Indian nations of the Old Northwest for control of territory. Wells’s unusual career, Heath emphasizes, earned him a great deal of ill will. Because he warned the U.S. government against Tecumseh’s confederacy and the Tenskwatawa’s “religiously mad” followers, he was hated by those who supported the Shawnee leaders. Because he came to question treaties he had helped bring about, and cautioned the Indians about their harmful effects, he was distrusted by Americans. Wells is a complicated hero, and his conflicted position reflects the decline of coexistence and cooperation between two cultures.