"Esclaves Émancipation États-Unis." . . "United States." . . "United States" . "Slaves Emancipation." . . "Slaves Emancipation" . "Esclaves États-Unis Vie intellectuelle." . . "Literature and society United States." . . "Geschichte 1800-1900." . . "Authors, American Political and social views." . . "Authors, American Political and social views" . "To 1999" . . . . "American literature." . . "American literature" . "HISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)" . . "Freigelassener." . . "African Americans Social conditions." . . "African Americans Social conditions" . "Literatur." . . "Emanzipation." . . "African Americans Intellectual life." . . "African Americans Intellectual life" . "Sklave." . . "African Americans Social conditions To 1964." . . "Schreib- und Lesefähigkeit." . . "American literature African American authors History and criticism." . . . "\"One of the cruelest abuses of slavery in America was that slaves were forbidden to read and write. Consigned to illiteracy, they left no records of their thoughts and feelings apart from the few exceptional narratives of Frederick Douglass and others who escaped to the North--or so we have long believed. But as Christopher Hager reveals, a few enslaved African Americans managed to become literate in spite of all prohibitions, and during the halting years of emancipation thousands more seized the chance to learn. The letters and diaries of these novice writers, unpolished and hesitant yet rich with voice, show ordinary black men and women across the South using pen and paper to make sense of their experiences\"--P. [2] of jacket." . . . . "Electronic books"@en . . . . . . . . . "Word by word : emancipation and the act of writing"@en . "Word by word : emancipation and the act of writing" . "Livres électroniques" . . . . . . . . . "Word by Word Emancipation and the Act of Writing" . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Word by word emancipation and the act of writing"@en . "Word by word emancipation and the act of writing" . . . . . . . . "Main description: One of the cruelest abuses of slavery in America was that slaves were forbidden to read and write. Consigned to illiteracy, they left no records of their thoughts and feelings apart from the few exceptional narratives of Frederick Douglass and others who escaped to the North-or so we have long believed. But as Christopher Hager reveals, a few enslaved African Americans managed to become literate in spite of all prohibitions, and during the halting years of emancipation, thousands more seized the chance to learn. The letters and diaries of these novice writers, unpolished and hesitant yet rich with voice, show ordinary black men and women across the South using pen and paper to make sense of their experiences. Through an unprecedented gathering of these forgotten writings-from letters by individuals sold away from their families, to petitions from freedmen in the army to their new leaders, to a New Orleans man's transcription of the Constitution-Word by Word rewrites the history of emancipation. The idiosyncrasies of these untutored authors, Hager argues, reveal the enormous difficulty of straddling the border between slave and free. These unusual texts, composed by people with a unique perspective on the written word, force us to rethink the relationship between literacy and freedom. For African Americans at the end of slavery, learning to write could be liberating and empowering, but putting their hard-won skill to use often proved arduous and daunting-a portent of the tenuousness of the freedom to come." . . . . . . . . "Word by word : emancipation and the act of writing$nElektronische Ressource" . . . . . . . . . . "Criticism, interpretation, etc" . . . "Criticism, interpretation, etc"@en . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Literature and society." . . "Literature and society" . "African Americans in literature." . . "African Americans in literature" . "Authors, American 19th century Political and social views." . . "USA." . . "Schwarze." . . "Politik." . . "African American authors Political and social views." . . "African American authors Political and social views" . "Slaves Emancipation United States." . . "American literature 19th century History and criticism." . . "LITERARY CRITICISM / American / General" . . "African Americans Intellectual life 20th century." . . "Écrits d'esclaves américains 19e siècle Histoire et critique." . . "Etats-Unis." . . "African Americans Civil rights." . . "African Americans Civil rights" . "American literature African American authors." . . "American literature African American authors" .