Why read A Hard Fight for We?

Book cover of A Hard Fight for We: Women's Transition from Slavery to Freedom in South Carolina

Book description

African-American women fought for their freedom with courage and vigor during and after the Civil War. Leslie Schwalm explores the vital roles of enslaved and formerly enslaved women on the rice plantations of lowcountry South Carolina, both in antebellum plantation life and in the wartime collapse of slavery. From there,…

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American history

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Why read it?

1 author picked A Hard Fight for We as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Lee Ann Timreck

Author

“Slave women’s transition to freedom, while deeply desired, prayed for, and actively pursued, was a treacherous and ambiguous process.” With these words, Leslie Schwalm goes on to detail the activist role Black women played in securing emancipation and shaping a different future for themselves and their families, from slavery to freedom.

Schwalm uses oral narratives to capture their experiences before, during, and after the Civil War, and examines how social, racial, and political realities influenced the lives of Black women. This book is a must read on how African American women continuously challenged the barriers to free labor, family autonomy,…

From Lee's list on the activism of African American women.