This study is a qualitative, historical examination of the diaries, journals, and letters of twenty-four northern teachers of former African American slaves. The study analyzes the cultural reform project carried out by these and other northern teachers working in the American South during the Civil War and early Reconstruction periods (roughly 1862 to 1870). The sample includes both black and white teachers as well as teachers who conceptualized their work in the South primarily in secular terms and--more commonly--in both secular and religious terms. After providing an overview of the work and situating it within the historiography of the teachers of the freed people, the study explores the sense of mission of each of the twenty-four teachers and examines the influence of white racism and black agency on northern reform efforts during this period. The bulk of the work addresses the teachers' perceptions of and efforts to reform the cultural condition of the former slaves. These reforms attempted to foster intellectual development through classroom education; provide material relief and instill personal habits of cleanliness, tidiness, and healthy living; encourage the former slaves to take up the duties and rights of citizenship; and influence the course of southern black religion. A brief conclusion summarizes the themes of the work and evaluates the success and appropriateness of the teachers' agenda. The study finds that while the teachers in the sample varied in their motivations and their conceptualizations of the work, as a group they had a comprehensive and remarkably consistent cultural reform agenda designed to reshape the life of southern blacks along northern lines and that this agenda sometimes aligned and sometimes conflicted with southern blacks' own goals and aspirations.

A passagem do século XVIII para o XIX foi um período marcado pela crise do absolutismo, pela independência das colônias americanas e pela formação de estados nacionais. Nessa quadra, houve importantes mudanças para a população egressa do cativeiro e seus descendentes, com as aberturas para concessão de direitos em variadas porções do mundo atlântico. No que tange ao Brasil, algumas prerrogativas do âmbito civil eram acatadas costumeiramente pelas autoridades locais desde a época colonial; mas as da esfera política eram concebidas pelo soberano como privilégios, em resposta às missivas de vassalos pardos e forros inseridos em milícias e irmandades leigas. Após 1824, com a vigência da Carta Constitucional, os direitos civis e parte dos políticos foram legitimados para os libertos nascidos em território nacional e seus filhos. O presente trabalho analisa esse processo de transformação a partir do Termo de Mariana, por meio do estudo das demandas judiciais iniciadas por ex-escravos, e que podem ser lidas como reivindicações que geraram ações cíveis. Esses documentos permitem conhecer os comportamentos assumidos por esses sujeitos na tentativa de legitimarem as conquistas advindas com a alforria no período anterior e posterior à aprovação da Constituição de 1824. Os comportamentos políticos dos grupos sociais dos ex-escravos são analisados entre os anos de 1780 e 1840, período que compreende da preparação da sedição de 1789 ao término da experiência regencial. / The passage of the Eighteenth to the Nineteenth Century was marked by the crisis of absolutism, the independence of the American colonies, and the formation of national states. During that time period, the population released from of slavery and their descendants experienced important changes as possibilities opened for the concession of rights in several parts of the Atlantic world. In relation to Brazil, some prerogatives of the civil area had been normally followed by local authorities since colonial days, but those of the political sphere were seen by the sovereign as privileges, in response to the requests made by mulattoes inserted in militias and lay brotherhoods. After the 1824 Constitution, civil rights and part of political rights became legal for free people born within national territory as well as for their offspring. The present work analyses this process of transformation in the Jurisdiction of Mariana, through the study of judicial demands issued by former slaves, which could be considered as requests that have generated civil actions. These documents allow us to see the behaviour patterns followed by these subjects in an attempt to legitimise the conquests resulting from manumission in the period before and also after the approval and enactment of the 1824 Constitution. The political behaviour patterns shown by the social groups consisting of former slaves are analysed between the years of 1780 and 1840, a period which runs from the preparation of the sedition of 1789 to the end of the Regency.

A passagem do século XVIII para o XIX foi um período marcado pela crise do absolutismo, pela independência das colônias americanas e pela formação de estados nacionais. Nessa quadra, houve importantes mudanças para a população egressa do cativeiro e seus descendentes, com as aberturas para concessão de direitos em variadas porções do mundo atlântico. No que tange ao Brasil, algumas prerrogativas do âmbito civil eram acatadas costumeiramente pelas autoridades locais desde a época colonial; mas as da esfera política eram concebidas pelo soberano como privilégios, em resposta às missivas de vassalos pardos e forros inseridos em milícias e irmandades leigas. Após 1824, com a vigência da Carta Constitucional, os direitos civis e parte dos políticos foram legitimados para os libertos nascidos em território nacional e seus filhos. O presente trabalho analisa esse processo de transformação a partir do Termo de Mariana, por meio do estudo das demandas judiciais iniciadas por ex-escravos, e que podem ser lidas como reivindicações que geraram ações cíveis. Esses documentos permitem conhecer os comportamentos assumidos por esses sujeitos na tentativa de legitimarem as conquistas advindas com a alforria no período anterior e posterior à aprovação da Constituição de 1824. Os comportamentos políticos dos grupos sociais dos ex-escravos são analisados entre os anos de 1780 e 1840, período que compreende da preparação da sedição de 1789 ao término da experiência regencial. / The passage of the Eighteenth to the Nineteenth Century was marked by the crisis of absolutism, the independence of the American colonies, and the formation of national states. During that time period, the population released from of slavery and their descendants experienced important changes as possibilities opened for the concession of rights in several parts of the Atlantic world. In relation to Brazil, some prerogatives of the civil area had been normally followed by local authorities since colonial days, but those of the political sphere were seen by the sovereign as privileges, in response to the requests made by mulattoes inserted in militias and lay brotherhoods. After the 1824 Constitution, civil rights and part of political rights became legal for free people born within national territory as well as for their offspring. The present work analyses this process of transformation in the Jurisdiction of Mariana, through the study of judicial demands issued by former slaves, which could be considered as requests that have generated civil actions. These documents allow us to see the behaviour patterns followed by these subjects in an attempt to legitimise the conquests resulting from manumission in the period before and also after the approval and enactment of the 1824 Constitution. The political behaviour patterns shown by the social groups consisting of former slaves are analysed between the years of 1780 and 1840, a period which runs from the preparation of the sedition of 1789 to the end of the Regency.

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