To 'joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors After the Civil War

by Tera W. Hunter

Tera Hunter follows African-American working women from their newfound optimism and hope at the end of the Civil War to their struggles as free domestic laborers in the homes of their former master. We witness their drive as they build neighborhoods and networks and their energy as they enjoy leisure hours in dance halls and clubs. We learn of their militance and the way they resisted efforts to keep them economically depressed and medically victimized. Finally, we see the despair and defeat provoked by Jim Crow laws and segregation and how they spurred large numbers of black laboring women to migrate north.

Recommended by the Association of Black Women Historians.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Race, American History, School, Labor, Social Justice

336 pages, Paperback

First published May 20, 1997

About the author

Tera W. Hunter is Edwards Professor of American History and Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. Bound in Wedlock won the inaugural Stone Brook Award from the Museum of African American History in addition to four other book awards. Hunter's previous books was To 'Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women's Lives and Labors after the Civil War.

Reviews

[Sarah Jaffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time someone makes a simplistic assumption about women and work, love and work, racism and work, I want the sky to open up and rain copies of this book on their head. So good. (Also a great follow-up to this spring's reading of Black Reconstruction if you're so inclined.)

[Kaij Lundgren · Rating 3 out of 5]

An account of labor relations between recently freed African Americans and their white employers in the post-bellum south. The book narrows its focus more specifically to the working and recreational lives of black women in the city of Atlanta between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of World War I.

This is a very important subject in American history and a very well-researched book. The perspective of Hunter is clear and refreshing, as she focuses plainly on the value of black women's labor power and the ways white capital attempted to control this valuable commodity. Social and moral conflict emerges as a natural byproduct of the primary issue at hand, which is labor. A very valuable perspective, and one that can provide bright moments of worthwhile insight.

But I would be lying if I said that I didn't find this book to be extremely dry, and it required a lot of concentration for me to get through it. Would highly recommend to someone interested in a deeper understanding of race relations in America, but this will be a difficult read for most.

[liv · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a really great archive of southern black women’s every day lives and importance of leisure and community!

[Kadienne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, I think everyone should read this. If I had to recommend a history book to non-historians, I think it’d be this one. Not that it’s the most narrative history book I’ve ever read, or even the most compelling, but it is so accessible and so well done. It centers Black agency as well as Black joy. It addresses the intersections of race and class and gender in such a masterful way, and I genuinely enjoyed the read. Beautiful, purposeful writing.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

the most significant book I've ever read about Black women's labor history post civil war, really really incredible!

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

"To 'Joy My Freedom" was certainly an informative read and contained a lot of information that usually isn't well known regarding African American women after the Civil War, but the book just wasn't that interesting or exciting of a read to recommend it any higher.

Once you start to get into the heart of it, "To 'Joy My Freedom" just sort of gets boring and begins to read like a history textbook. It would have been nice if some of the events were elaborated on more thoroughly or detailed better to grab the reader's attention on a deeper level, but that didn't happen often enough and the book became a bit disappointing and slow.

I did like how Hunter included many firsthand accounts of black women who endured the hardships of the South though; in my opinion, those moments were where the book shines the brightest but they were often only a couple sentences long, and dispersed unevenly throughout.

It'll be a decent read for those interested in the post-Civil War United States or in the lives of African American women during that time, but for everyone else, there's not much here.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed look at urban Atlanta slaves and antebellum Atlanta - Urban life is often overlooked in discussions of the slavery south. Interesting, but rather dry historical writing at times.

[Signoree · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing look into the lives of black women during reconstruction in the South. This book explains the hardships that most had to face in order to survive after slavery.

[sorrowmancer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough, must-read labor history of post-Civil War Atlanta through WWI. A strength of it is the using of many existing records of white govt and/or employer punitive (and sometimes not!) responses to organizing by Black workers to supplement the relative dearth of records of the secret societies and mutual aid associations on the specifics of their organizing. Wished for more analysis on sexual politics of the stuff in chapters 7 and 8 -- of the non-wholesome pleasures, and especially of the dynamics of sex trade on Decatur street. Sex workers there were predominantly women, with lives and labors, but Hunter said rather little about theirs. (Of course there's even less historical record to work with there.) Though what she did say, despite being broad in her statements in arguments, still illuminated a good deal -- like the red light district in Atlanta being the last remaining place in early 1900s for consistent, fruitful inter-racial interaction, this fact proving to itself be a major cause of the 1906 race riot. Sexual politics features prominently here, as it must, and Hunter does an excellent job needling its multiple threads, of the fears, anxieties, sensibilities, and desires of various groups of people, just wished for more of that from the perspectives of women in the sex industry.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book after I made it a goal to work through the readings and lectures of an Open Yale course from Emancipation to Present. ( https://oyc.yale.edu/african-american... ) I've read the entire book and feel much more knowledgeable about the lives of southern Black women in the late 19th and early 20th century because of it. It focuses specifically on Atlanta, but includes a lot of information about the general history of the time, and is full of details about the lives, work, and successes of Black women, as well as the many ways in which they had to face racism and the difficulties of making their place in a white dominated world. The author clearly did a ton of research, and many many primary sources are directly cited. It was very readable, and though sometimes a bit repetitive, I honestly needed the repetition to help me keep track of all the new information i was processing. It was refreshing to read a non white-centric history of an American place.

[Cam's Corner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tera W. Hunter’s first book, To ‘Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors After the Civil War, is “a study of the Black female majority in the urban South” (pg. viii). With a primary focus on the lives of Black female domestic laborers in Atlanta, Georgia. Hunter analyzes Black working-class women and their contributions to labor in the New South. This is an insightful and exciting read on the lives of Southern Black working-women post-Civil War. This reviewer highly recommends this book for students of Southern history, African American history, labor history, and women’s history.

[cooldude · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was highly informative and further opened my eyes to the perpetual struggle of black women in the South. The book begins at the Civil War and continues chronologically to the early 20th century – and despite the focus on one demographic, it provided a great overview of general American history from a Southern viewpoint. It was a slow read, due to the immense detail that Hunter provides on many aspects of Southern black womanhood; but the detail was much appreciated in formulating a clear view of American history. I loved this book.

[Candice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thorough look at race, gender, and class during Reconstruction. Very eye opening. We’ve come so far on race and gender issues in the USA and yet not far at all. We have the SAME recurring issues regarding police brutality, disenfranchisement, cultural policing of sexuality, the revered white woman trope, and class divisions that continue to plague our country. I especially enjoyed the sections outlining the development of blues and black dance as a form of rebellion and reclaiming physical autonomy.

[Michelle Skowronek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really struggled to enjoy the end as it became repetitive. However, coming away from this book feels as if I just stepped out of another world that I haven’t had a good glimpse of yet, and this is why I enjoy this book so much in some areas. Worth the read, especially Chapter 9 and the attitudes of society towards pathologies (white women with tuberculosis were considered beautiful ands CHIC!!!?)

[Maggie Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this book is very well-researched and well-written. It was hard for me to focus on such an academic book because my mind has been all over the piece, so I wouldn't really say that I "enjoyed" reading it, but I am thankful that I did.

I am reading this book as part of the coursework for a free Yale class that I am taking online. I am glad to be reading it as part of a class because it means that we will learn about the same topics in lecture.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

To ‘Joy My Freedom tells the story of generations of oppression black women faced in Atlanta and the evolution of their resistance from Antebellum through WW1. It is a story that still resonates with us today, as much of the same rhetoric used against the most outcasted people in our society has been repackaged to modern society. There are lessons to be learned from the slaves, washerwomen, workers, and mothers who broke the fabric of society on all levels of race and class.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstandingly written Labor History and Jim Crow book. The greatest micro-level analysis on the development of Jim Crow and Black workers in the South from post-Civil War to the 1920s Great Migration. Extremely well written history of Atlanta, the capital of the “New South”.

[William Guerrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting, scholarly, and well-researched. Note however that while the title suggests the book is about the post-Civil War experiences of Southern black women generally, it is in fact focused almost entirely on Atlanta.

[Elizabeth]

As heard on Teaching Hard History:
https://www.learningforjustice.org/po...

[Jarred Goodall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent work by Dr. Hunter...throughly researched and backed with valid evidence of the inhumane, systematic, racist challenges that African American Women faced in the South.

[Ly · Rating 4 out of 5]

An well-written and detailed book about the Black women’s resilient struggles to claim their bodies, femininity, freedom, and political roles in the Urban South, especially Atlanta, from the Civil War to the First World War. The book reveals a recurring theme of Southerners’ fright of Black women’s agency, a fright that droves them to debase their position by any means possible, such as the enact of Jim Crow and support of Ku Klax Klan. However, Black female, and Black society in general, were persistent and creative in their effort to chase for their dreamed freedom in Atlanta. Stories about African American societies, organizations, jobs, and night dancing parties interestingly manifest various means for such effort.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was assigned for the "Black Women in America" class that I am CAing for. I really enjoyed the book a great deal. Hunter's prose is very accessible, and I think she does a fantastic job of making the history of black women after the Civil War accessible and interesting to an undergraduate audience while still maintaining scholarly rigor. That said, I am left wanting to know more after many of her anecdotes and, while I understand that she couldn't possible give us all the details on every encounter, both for spatial limitations and absences in the record, it could be frustrating at times.

[Donna Scoggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enlightened me about life for Black domestic workers in the South during and particularly after slavery. Main focus was the Atlanta area. Educational institutions, neighborhoods, and streets mentioned are thriving communities today. Provided an appreciation for what our female domestic workers went through to get us where we are today.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the lives of Southern black women during the Reconstruction period and the early part of the twentieth century. Well written and covers most of the major historiographical issues in African-American women's history for the period.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fun drinking game for the book: take a shot every time the author uses the phrase "African American Women" when referring to experiences that were commonplace to all African Americans. Just a weirdly paced book that can't make up its mind on what its trying to say or what it wants to be about.

[Aidan Reilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

An important history that caps off a decade of new historical approaches in the field of African American studies. Hunter uses a lens of CRT and Intersectionality in tangent with a bottom-up approach to produce a truly landmark study of Atlanta and working Black women.

[Charlie Rose]

This book was almost all new information for me. A very informative read.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent, well-research, and innovative study of women in the post-bellum South.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really great work about the history of Southern Black Women. It's great for people interested in women's history, American history, or Africana studies.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

To clarify, I didn't complete this book. It is well researched and the topic is fascinating but I'm just not into reading it at this time.