The Negroes Are No Longer Slaves

Former slaves in Kentucky had little ability to assert their hard-won liberty in the first months and years after emancipation, as self-proclaimed “Negro Regulators” imposed a reign of terror. In particular, families—sometimes with male heads of household, sometimes not—faced significant hurdles as...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAfter Slavery
Main Author Rhyne, J. Michael
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published University Press of Florida 03.09.2013
Subjects
African American History
apprenticeship
Civil War and Reconstruction US History
domestic labor
families
freedwomen
gender
Kentucky
Slavery and Abolition of Slavery
violence
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Summary:Former slaves in Kentucky had little ability to assert their hard-won liberty in the first months and years after emancipation, as self-proclaimed “Negro Regulators” imposed a reign of terror. In particular, families—sometimes with male heads of household, sometimes not—faced significant hurdles as they sought to establish autonomous lives. Many masters in the “unionist” state proved reluctant to release their slaves, openly and violently defying federal policy regarding emancipation. Freedpeople expressed massive frustration with the Commonwealth's disruptive, racially biased, and abuse-ridden apprenticeship system. Free black women working in white households and urban settings complained of the often-vicious treatment they received at the hands of employers and other white Kentuckians. Taken altogether, these attempts to limit emancipation, powerfully reinforced by organized violence, constitute a concerted effort to maintain black subordination, thereby denying former slaves the free and potentially equal status they desired, expected, and demanded.
ISBN:9780813044774
0813044774
DOI:10.5744/florida/9780813044774.003.0007