Finding Francis : One Family's Journey from Slavery to Freedom : One Family's Journey from Slavery to Freedom / Elizabeth J. West.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

West, Elizabeth J., 1957- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sistrunk family.

Sistrunk, Francis, approximately 1827-between 1880 and 1900--Family.

Sistrunk, Francis.

African American families--Southern States--Biography.

African American families.

African American women--Social conditions--19th century.

African American women.

African Americans--Southern States--Historiography.

African Americans.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (206 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Columbia, South Carolina : University of South Carolina Press, [2022]

Summary:

"Finding Francis, finding family, freeing history. Francis is found. Beyond Francis, a family is found-in archival material that barely deigned to notice their existence. This is the story of Francis Sistrunk and her children, from enslavement into forced migration across South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. It spans decades before the Civil War and continues into post-emancipation America. A family story full of twists and turns, Finding Francis reclaims and honors those women who played an essential role in the historical survival and triumph of Black people during and after American slavery. Elizabeth West has created a remarkable 'biohistoriography' of everyday Black resistance, grounded in a determination to maintain enduring connections of family, kinship, and community despite the inhumanity and rapacity of slavery. There is inevitable heartbreak in these histories, but there is also an empowering strength and inspiration-the truth of these lives will indeed set us all free"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Francis in Georgia: kinship and family formation in the Black antebellum South

Neshoba to Noxubee: pre-Civil War to Reconstruction

Post-Reconstruction and a new century: anxious and audacious times (1870s-1910)

Hillman: a man's story bookended by women

Coda: reflections on methodology.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: West, Elizabeth J. Finding Francis

ISBN:

9781643363592

OCLC:

1341990716