Research Catalog

A house divided : slavery and emancipation in Delaware, 1638-1865

Title: A house divided : slavery and emancipation in Delaware, 1638-1865 / Patience Essah.
Author: Essah, Patience.
Publication: Charlottesville : University Press of Virginia, 1996.
Supplementary Content: Book review (H-Net)

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schomburg Center to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	Sc E 98-287	Schomburg Center - Research & Reference
Request for On-site Use Request Scan Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person.	Text	Use in library	IIR 96-17222	Schwarzman Building - Milstein Division Room 121

Details

Description

xv, 216 pages : map; 23 cm

Summary

Delaware stood outside the primary streams of New World emancipation. Despite slavery's virtual demise in that state during the antebellum years and Delaware's staunch Unionism during the Civil War itself, the state failed to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, which prohibits slavery, until 1901. Patience Essah takes the reader of A House Divided through the introduction, evolution, demise, and final abolition of slavery in Delaware. In unraveling the enigma of how and why tiny Delaware abstained from the abolition mandated in northern states after the American Revolution, resisted the movement toward abolition in border states during the Civil War, and stubbornly opposed ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, she offers fresh insight into the history of slavery, race, and racialism in America. The citizens of Delaware voluntarily freed over 90 percent of their slaves, yet they declined Lincoln's 1862 offer of compensation for emancipation, and the legislature persistently foiled all attempts to mandate emancipation. Those arguing against emancipation expressed fears that it inadvertently would alter the delicate balance of political power in the state. What Essah has found at the base of the Delaware paradox is a political discourse stalemated by instrumental appeals to racialism. In showing the persistence of slavery in Delaware, she raises questions about postslavery race relations. Her analysis is vital to an understanding of the African-American experience.

Series Statement

Carter G. Woodson Institute series in Black studies

Uniform Title

Carter G. Woodson Institute series in Black studies.

Alternative Title

Slavery and emancipation in Delaware, 1638-1865

Subjects

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Foreword / Armstead L. Robinson -- 1. The Dutch, Swedes, English, and Slavery -- 2. The Making of Voluntary Emancipation, 1740-1865 -- 3. At the Margin of Freedom -- 4. On the Bank of the River Jordan -- 5. Carrying Their Own Weight -- 6. "A Government of White Men for the Benefit of White Men."

Call Number

IIR 96-17222

ISBN

081391681X
9780813916811

LCCN

96015045

OCLC

34558742

Author

Essah, Patience.

Title

A house divided : slavery and emancipation in Delaware, 1638-1865 / Patience Essah.

Imprint

Charlottesville : University Press of Virginia, 1996.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Carter G. Woodson Institute series in Black studies

Carter G. Woodson Institute series in Black studies.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Connect to:

Book review (H-Net)

Research Call Number

IIR 96-17222

Sc E 98-287

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