eBook - ePub
Seeking Justice
The Extraordinary Freedom Suits of an Enslaved Virginia Family
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
The amazing story of one illegally enslaved Virginia family’s dauntless legal appeal for freedom
Before the Civil War brought emancipation to the South, some enslaved people managed to use the legal system—the same one that had concocted and long perpetuated their bondage—to sue for their freedom from owners who unlawfully held them in slavery. In Seeking Justice, Daniel Thorp tells the story behind Unis v. Charlton’s Administrator, one of the most extensive of these freedom suits in all of American history.
It began when a woman, known only as Flora, was born in Connecticut and sold into slavery in Virginia. Her children sued, and over more than thirty years, four cases involving almost fifty plaintiffs moved through the Virginia court system before finally reaching a conclusion in 1855. Seeking Justice narrates this remarkable saga, illuminating Black Americans’ legal literacy and shining a light on the unusual permutations of the antebellum judicial world and the courage it took for Flora’s family to plunge into the legal heart of a slave society.
Before the Civil War brought emancipation to the South, some enslaved people managed to use the legal system—the same one that had concocted and long perpetuated their bondage—to sue for their freedom from owners who unlawfully held them in slavery. In Seeking Justice, Daniel Thorp tells the story behind Unis v. Charlton’s Administrator, one of the most extensive of these freedom suits in all of American history.
It began when a woman, known only as Flora, was born in Connecticut and sold into slavery in Virginia. Her children sued, and over more than thirty years, four cases involving almost fifty plaintiffs moved through the Virginia court system before finally reaching a conclusion in 1855. Seeking Justice narrates this remarkable saga, illuminating Black Americans’ legal literacy and shining a light on the unusual permutations of the antebellum judicial world and the courage it took for Flora’s family to plunge into the legal heart of a slave society.
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Yes, you can access Seeking Justice by Daniel B. Thorp in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & African American History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgments
- A Note on Names and Language
- Introduction
- 1. New England Beginnings
- 2. Bound for Virginia
- 3. Virginia Courts and Enslaved Plaintiffs
- 4. The Trials Begin
- 5. A New Legal Strategy
- 6. Back to Christiansburg
- 7. The Court Speaks
- Afterword
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index