One Day University

For many Americans, the word “emancipation” conjures up images of joyful, freed slaves and President Lincoln penning his famous proclamation. But Professor Blight argues that to truly understand the Emancipation, it is important to study the writings of two less well-known authors: Wallace Turnage and John Washington, slaves who escaped to the North. The two left behind recently discovered diaries that paint compelling, first-hand accounts of the bloodiest period in American history. Turnage, an Alabama field worker, attempted escape four times before finally succeeding—all in a desperate attempt to gain a new life with no promise of ease or plenty, just freedom. With the men’s narratives to guide him, Professor Blight offers an insider’s view of life in a slave society as well as the contraband camps where Turnage and Washington gathered with thousands of other ex-slaves to prepare for life as free men. He also explores the complex and often difficult life freed slaves faced after the Civil War and examines how Americans have chosen to remember this defining period in our history.