Marching Toward Freedom: Blacks in the Civil War 1861-1865

The Living History Library

by James M. McPherson

Examines the role of African Americans in the Union and Confederacy during the Civil War and the resulting change in their position as citizens

Genres: History

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

James M. McPherson, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins University, 1963; B.A., Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, Minnesota), 1958) is an American Civil War historian, and the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom, his most famous book. He was the president of the American Historical Association in 2003, and is a member of the editorial board of Encyclopædia Britannica.

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found Marching Toward Freedom a little too simplistic for my taste as a former historian; but I believe its audience was junior high students, and they should find it valuable. The information is good, the writing clear, the subject interesting and well-covered, sympathetic and thus just a bit biased toward Civil War era "colored" people.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 2 out of 5]

A cursory examination of the role of blacks in the Civil Warwith only a few pages devoted to the wartime years. My greatest concern as a historian is that McPherson relies heavily on secondary souces and does not fully develope some concepts.

[Ernie Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't read all the modern explanations on life during the US Civil War. See and hear it from the lips of those who lived it. True profiles in courage and toleration.