The Texas lowcountry : slavery and freedom on the Gulf Coast, 1822-1895 / John R. Lundberg.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lundberg, John R., author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Series:

Prairie View A & M University series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Slavery--Texas--Gulf Coast--History--19th century.

Slavery.

Freed persons--Texas--Gulf Coast--Social conditions--19th century.

Freed persons.

Brazoria County (Tex.)--Race relations--History--19th century.

Brazoria County (Tex.).

Fort Bend County (Tex.)--Race relations--History--19th century.

Fort Bend County (Tex.).

Matagorda County (Tex.)--Race relations--History--19th century.

Matagorda County (Tex.).

Wharton County (Tex.)--Race relations--History--19th century.

Wharton County (Tex.).

Freed persons--Social conditions.

Race relations.

Texas--Brazoria County.

Texas--Fort Bend County.

Texas--Gulf Coast.

Texas--Matagorda County.

Texas--Wharton County.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 325 pages : illustrations, maps, plates, portraits ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Slavery and freedom on the Gulf Coast, 1822-1895

Place of Publication:

College Station : Texas A&M University Press, [2024]

Summary:

"In The Texas Lowcountry: Slavery and Freedom on the Gulf Coast, 1822-1895, author John R. Lundberg examines slavery and Reconstruction in a region of Texas he terms the lowcountry-an area encompassing the lower reaches of the Brazos and Colorado Rivers and their tributaries as they wend their way toward the Gulf of Mexico through what is today Brazoria, Fort Bend, Matagorda, and Wharton Counties. In the two decades before the Civil War, European immigrants, particularly Germans, poured into Texas, sometimes bringing with them cultural ideals that complicated the story of slavery throughout large swaths of the state. By contrast, 95 percent of the white population of the lowcountry came from other parts of the United States, predominantly the slaveholding states of the American South. By 1861, more than 70 percent of this regional population were enslaved people-the heaviest such concentration west of the Mississippi. These demographics established the Texas Lowcountry as a distinct region in terms of its population and social structure. Part one of The Texas Lowcountry explores the development of the region as a borderland, an area of competing cultures and peoples, between 1822 and 1840. The second part is arranged topically and chronicles the history of the enslavers and the enslaved in the lowcountry between 1840 and 1865. The final section focuses on the experiences of freed people in the region during the Reconstruction era, which ended in the lowcountry in 1895. In closely examining this unique pocket of Texas, Lundberg provides a new and much needed region-specific study of the culture of enslavement and the African American experience"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

A borderlands, 1822-1840

Carving out a plantation society

An enslaver's rebellion

Agents of change: the tipping point

A deep south society, 1840-1865

Gone to Texas in chains: forced migration into the Lowcountry

Neighboring plantations: the white society and geography of the Texas Lowcountry

Extracting every ounce of profit: slavery's capitalism in the Texas Lowcountry

Complex households: gender, sex, and slavery in the Texas Lowcountry

The long struggle: resistance and emancipation in the Texas Lowcountry

Reconstruction, 1865-1895

The struggle for equality

The places in between

The birth of Jim Crow

Ain't no more 'cane on the Brazos.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 279-304) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Lundberg, John R. Texas lowcountry

ISBN:

9781648431753

16484317555

OCLC:

1379265702