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Title: Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia (A Nation Divided: New Studies in Civil War History) by Ervin L., Jr. Jordan ISBN: 0-8139-1545-7 Publisher: University of Virginia Press Pub. Date: February, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.17 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Being Black in the South
Comment: It appears that a lot of people had a knee-jerk reaction to the title of Professor Jordan's book. This is far from an Apologia for the Confederacy. It is a very well researched and documented account of Black Experience in Civil War Virginia.
While working on my own family history I have been doing an analysis of the 1810 Federal Census for Spotsylvania County. What stands out is the number of Free Black households headed by women. In our politically correct age we tend to over-look the fact that in Colonial and pre-war Virginia, women and children owned property, and that the courts vigorously protected their property rights from husband and estate seekers. In both white and black households in Spotsylvania County, one out of six were headed by women.
Rating: 1
Summary: Rumors, fallacies and false conclusions
Comment: It is exceedingly sad, at this late date to see such a collection of rumor and false conclusions promoted as truth. Yes, indeed, slaves went to war with the Confederate army-but as cooks, teamsters, laborers and personal servants. That did not make them SOLDIERS. Where are the rosters and muster rolls? Anyone who has done even minimal research into the Civil War and Confederate use of Blacks knows that it was illegal to enlist them in the military until just weeks before Appomatox, when desperation made Davis yield to pressure from his generals and cabinet. NO REGIMENT OF BLACK CONFEDERATES was ever fielded!
There is so much half-truth and misinformation in this book, it should be pulled from every shelf in every home, library and bookstore. It is hype, it is terrible-from the AFRO-YANKEES in the title to the last page. Avoid it at all costs, there are far too many better books out there
Rating: 1
Summary: Newsflash: Virginney Slaves Abducted by UFOs!
Comment: Ervin L. Jordan's "Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees" is a sad example of how sloppy analysis and writing can make you very, very famous.
Jordan attempts to provide the reader with a well-rounded understanding of the lives of African-Americans (henceforth "Negroes" in the parlance of the time) living in Virginia at the time of the Civil War. The results, however, are mortally wounded by the author's inability to correctly evaluate evidence, or to remain mindful of terminology.
The damage is almost immediate, when Jordan begins to use such terms as Afro-Virginians and Afro-Confederates. These terms hinder the understanding of the text for several reasons. First, it muddies the meaning of events, since the reader is often unsure whether the text refers to freemen, slaves or both. Second, it implies something that the Negroes did not have: citizenship within the state or in the rebellion. Most Negroes were slaves and were no more a citizen than a horse or a plow. The freeman had no right of citizenship; they didn't even have the automatic right to residency in Virginia. Other bizarre terms are created by the author. One particularly amazing howler is one page 241, when the author claims Richmonders wanted "Afro-Virginians" for its -- no kidding -- "New Model Biracial Army."
But these problems are just the beginning. Lead sentences--often making bold declarations--are followed by text that do not support the author's conclusion. Paragraphs contradict each other. It appears that the author had done tremendous research and, instead of withdrawing minor or contradictory material, he jammed it all in and tried desperately to make it all consistent. He failed. Interspersed are Negro spirituals which the author cannot confirm as associated with the described events.
Poor source choices abound, as when the author cites a London paper that Davis considered arming slaves as early as 1862. This is obviously a poor source for intimate details of what was underway in the Confederate government, and is contradicted by available primary sources. Indeed, the entire sections dealing with alleged "Afro-Confederate soldiers" is based upon, in most cases, second-hand reports, reports obviously false (as when two nonexistent black Confederate regiments were allegedly involved in at the battle of Seven Pines) and folklore. The author provides numerous "sightings" of black Confederate "soldiers." I can find an equal number of persons who claimed they were abducted by UFOs. Claims do not make it so. Missing are solid facts: Where are the rosters? How could these combat units exist when it was forbidden to have Negroes in the ranks or for Negroes to own or bear arms?
Being a slave in service to the Confederacy does not make one a Confederate any more than being a slave to the Third Reich makes one a Nazi. Impressed and oppressed, the Negroes of Virginia in most cases could not be Confederates because they were not offered any choice in the matter. Jordan seems to have missed this point.
I cannot recommend this book. It's poor construction and hapless conclusions cannot help us understand how our African-American population responded in the South. The reviewer can recommend, as an alternative to this book, "The Gray and the Black" by Robert F. Durden which provides an excellent account of the debate among major Confederate figures over whether to arm their slaves.
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Title: Black Southerners in Gray: Essays on Afro-Americans in Confederate Armies by Arthur W. Bergeron, Thomas Cartwright, Ervin L., Jr Jordan, Richard Rollins, Rudolph Young ISBN: 0963899392 Publisher: Rank & File Pub Pub. Date: June, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Black Southerners in Confederate Armies by J. H. Segars, Charles K. Barrow, Charles K.Barrow ISBN: 0966245415 Publisher: Southern Lion Books Inc Pub. Date: 01 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Black Confederates by J. H. Segars, R. B. Rosenburg, Charles Kelly Barrow ISBN: 1565549376 Publisher: Pelican Pub Co Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Forgotten Confederates: An Anthology About Black Southerners by Charles Kelly Barrow, J. H. Segars, R. B. Rosenburg, Kelly Barrow, Billy Ellis ISBN: 1889332127 Publisher: Southern Heritage Press Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Gray and the Black: The Confederate Debate on Emancipation by Robert Franklin Durden ISBN: 0807125571 Publisher: Louisiana State University Press Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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