5 records matched your query       

Author:

Wong, Edlie L.

Title:

Neither fugitive nor free : Atlantic slavery, freedom suits, and the legal culture of travel / Edlie L. Wong.

Publisher:

New York University Press,

Copyright Date:

c2009

Description:

viii, 337 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

Subject:

Slaves--History--History--19th century.
Blacks--History--History--19th century.
Slave narratives--History and criticism.
American literature--19th century--History and criticism.
American literature--History and criticism.--History and criticism.
Slaves--History--United States--History--19th century.
Antislavery movements--United States--History--19th century.
Slavery--History--United States--History--19th century.
Law and literature--United States--History--19th century.
Slavery in literature.
Law in literature.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Summary:

Studies lawsuits to gain freedom for slaves on the grounds of their having traveled to free territory, starting with Somerset v. Stewart (England, 1772), Commonwealth v. Aves (Massachussetts, 1836), Dred Scott v. Sanford, and cases brought questioning the legitimacy of Negro Seamen Acts in the antebellum coastal South. These lawsuits and accounts of them are compared to fugitive slave narratives to shed light on both. The differing impact of freedom obtained from such suits for men and women (women could claim that their children were free, once they were judged free) is examined.

Series:

America and the long 19th century

ISBN:

0814794564 (pb : alk. paper)
9780814794562 (pb : alk. paper)
0814794556 (cl : alk. paper)
9780814794555 (cl : alk. paper)

OCLC:

(OCoLC)290414762

LCCN:

2009001473

Locations:

USUX851 -- Iowa State University - Parks Library (Ames)

OVUX522 -- University of Iowa Libraries (Iowa City)

N5UX522 -- University of Iowa Law Library (Iowa City)