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Book Synopsis

The first comprehensive study of self-purchase in the United States from the American Revolution to the Civil War
Enslaved people lived in a world in which everything had a price. Even freedom. Freedom's Currency follows enslaved people's efforts to buy themselves out of slavery across the United States from the American Revolution to the Civil War. In the first comprehensive study of self-purchase in the nation, Julia Wallace Bernier reveals how enslaved people raised money, fostered connections, and made use of slavery's systems of value and exchange to wrest control of their lives from those who owned them. She chronicles the stories of famous fugitives like Frederick Douglass, who, with the help of friends and supporters, purchased his freedom to protect himself against the continued legal claims of his enslavers and the possibility of recapture. She also shows how enslaved fathers like Lunsford Lane and mothers like Elizabeth Keckley tried to secure lives for

Freedoms Currency

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    A Hardback by Julia Wallace Bernier

    £35.10

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    RRP £39.00 – you save £3.90 (10%)

    Order before 4pm on Saturday for delivery by Tue 17 Nov 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher MT - University of Pennsylvania Press
      Published 9/24/2024
      ISBN-13 9781512826470
      978-1512826470
      ISBN-10 1512826472

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      The first comprehensive study of self-purchase in the United States from the American Revolution to the Civil War
      Enslaved people lived in a world in which everything had a price. Even freedom. Freedom's Currency follows enslaved people's efforts to buy themselves out of slavery across the United States from the American Revolution to the Civil War. In the first comprehensive study of self-purchase in the nation, Julia Wallace Bernier reveals how enslaved people raised money, fostered connections, and made use of slavery's systems of value and exchange to wrest control of their lives from those who owned them. She chronicles the stories of famous fugitives like Frederick Douglass, who, with the help of friends and supporters, purchased his freedom to protect himself against the continued legal claims of his enslavers and the possibility of recapture. She also shows how enslaved fathers like Lunsford Lane and mothers like Elizabeth Keckley tried to secure lives for

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