
A Precarious Balance
Firearms, Race, and Community in North Carolina, 1715–1865
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
Spanning the 1720s through the end of the Civil War, this book explores how free and enslaved Black North Carolinians accessed, possessed, and used firearms—both legal and otherwise—and how the state and white people responded. North Carolinians, whether free or enslaved, Black or white, had different stakes on the issue, all of which impacted the reality of Black people’s gun use.
Antwain K. Hunter reveals that armed Black people used firearms for a wide range of purposes: They hunted to feed their families and communities, guarded property, protected crops, and defended maroon communities from outsiders. Further, they resisted the institution of slavery and used guns both against white people and within their own community. Competing views of Black people’s firearm use created social, political, and legal points of contention for different demographics within North Carolina and left the general assembly and white civilians struggling to harness Black people’s armed labor for white people’s benefit. A Precarious Balance challenges readers to rethink how they understand race and firearms in the American past.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Halftitle Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction Reconsidering Historic Black Gun Use
- Chapter 1 The Law in Theory and Practice
- Chapter 2 Enslaved People’s Law-Breaking
- Chapter 3 Armed Labor
- Chapter 4 The Free Black Community
- Chapter 5 The Civil War
- Epilogue Firearms, Race, and the Steady March of Time
- Notes
- Bibliography
- General Index
- Index of Names