First Freedom: The Responses of Alabama's Blacks to Emancipation and Reconstruction (Contributions in American History)

Crucial changes occurred during the years following the Civil War as blacks manifested their desire to live as independently as possible and to reject every social relation reminiscent of slavery. This classic study of the history of post-slave societies helped to initiate historiographic trends that remain central to the study of emancipation. About the Author: Peter Kolchin is Henry Clay Reed Professor of History at the University of Delaware