The Meanings of Freedom: Black Lives During Reconstruction

Louis Masur
Louis Masur
Rutgers University

Louis Masur is Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University. A cultural historian who has written on a variety of topics, his most recent work isย The Sum of Our Dreams: A Concise History of Americaย (2020). A specialist on Lincoln and the Civil War, he is the author ofย Lincolnโ€™s Last Speech: Wartime Reconstruction & The Crisis of Reunionย (2015),ย Lincolnโ€™s Hundred Days: The Emancipation Proclamation and the War for the Unionย (2012), andย The Civil War: A Concise Historyย (2011). Masurโ€™s essays and reviews have appeared inย The New York Times, theย Washington Post,ย Slate,ย and on CNN. He has been elected to membership of the American Antiquarian Society, the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, and the Society of American Historians and has received teaching awards from Harvard University, the City College of New York, Trinity College and Rutgers University. His website isย www.louismasur.com.

 

Overview

In the aftermath of the Civil War, four million enslaved persons received freedom. Juneteenth celebrates the moment of freedom for many of them, but the experience of freedom varied widely. In this lecture, we shall discuss how African-Americans made a new life and fought to overcome obstacles that left some wondering if they had โ€œnothing but freedom.โ€

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