Transition from Slavery to Freedom
Hope Within a Wilderness of Suffering:
The Transition from Slavery to Freedom
During the Civil War and Reconstruction in Tennessee
By Antoinette G. van Zelm
Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area
Introduction: Emancipation in Tennessee
Emancipation was one of the most profound consequences of the American Civil War.
During and after the war, about four million enslaved African Americans in the United
States became free persons. This generation had a significant influence on American history, an influence that has yet to be fully recognized. During this remarkable period of transition, former slaves stabilized their family lives, sought to control their work environments, established their own schools and churches, and participated in public life as citizens.
While these goals may appear straightforward to us today, they were anything but simple to achieve at the time. The transition from slavery to freedom was as extraordinary as it was complex. Newly freed African Americans experienced both boundless joy and excruciating disappointment as they established themselves as free persons. Freed people frequently encountered violent resistance to their efforts to become paid workers and active citizens. Many white southerners refused to accept former slaves as free persons.
The state of Tennessee provides a particularly rich case study of the transition from slavery to freedom during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Second only to Virginia in the number of skirmishes and battles on its soil, Tennessee was at the heart of the conflict between North and South.1 The chaos of war visited many Tennessee communities and served to break down the bonds that kept 275,000 individuals enslaved. Most Tennessee slaves gained their freedom during the war, not after it was over. According to a leading scholarly work on emancipation, “By the spring of 1865, few Tennessee blacks were still living as slaves.”2
As soon as the war began, enslaved Tennesseans paid attention to the
The Transition from Slavery to Freedom
During the Civil War and Reconstruction in Tennessee
By Antoinette G. van Zelm
Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area
Introduction: Emancipation in Tennessee
Emancipation was one of the most profound consequences of the American Civil War.
During and after the war, about four million enslaved African Americans in the United
States became free persons. This generation had a significant influence on American history, an influence that has yet to be fully recognized. During this remarkable period of transition, former slaves stabilized their family lives, sought to control their work environments, established their own schools and churches, and participated in public life as citizens.
While these goals may appear straightforward to us today, they were anything but simple to achieve at the time. The transition from slavery to freedom was as extraordinary as it was complex. Newly freed African Americans experienced both boundless joy and excruciating disappointment as they established themselves as free persons. Freed people frequently encountered violent resistance to their efforts to become paid workers and active citizens. Many white southerners refused to accept former slaves as free persons.
The state of Tennessee provides a particularly rich case study of the transition from slavery to freedom during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Second only to Virginia in the number of skirmishes and battles on its soil, Tennessee was at the heart of the conflict between North and South.1 The chaos of war visited many Tennessee communities and served to break down the bonds that kept 275,000 individuals enslaved. Most Tennessee slaves gained their freedom during the war, not after it was over. According to a leading scholarly work on emancipation, “By the spring of 1865, few Tennessee blacks were still living as slaves.”2
As soon as the war began, enslaved Tennesseans paid attention to the