Présenter la situation de la société romaine, à l’époque de l’Empire, par le biais d’une partie de sa population, celle des affranchis, nous permet d’étudier une situation particulière vécue à cette époque. En effet, les anciens esclaves deviennent, par la manumissio, des citoyens romains mais une dichotomie se dégage assez clairement : non seulement les affranchis supportent la macula, cette infériorité sociale due à leurs origines serviles, mais nombre d’entre eux vont chercher aussi à dépasser cette fatalité dans l’espoir de se hisser au rang des citoyens les plus influents de la cité. Pourtant, juridiquement, politiquement, intellectuellement, l’image que Rome renvoie des affranchis est souvent dévalorisée ; cela se révèle autant par le vocabulaire officiel et juridique qui servait à les désigner que dans les portraits que la littérature latine nous en a fait. De plus, cette inégalité sera considérée par les affranchis comme un obstacle à leur individualité et ils chercheront alors, grâce à leurs compétences, à leurs ambitions personnelles, parfois à leurs intrigues, à se rendre visibles aux yeux des Romains de naissance libre. A la lumière des sources épigraphiques, nous verrons les secteurs, publics comme privés, dans lesquels cette présence s’est affirmée et comment Rome a pris en compte cette population. La présence et l’influence que les affranchis eurent sur les traditions morales et culturelles de l’époque, créèrent des sujets de réflexion, qu’ils soient, le plus souvent, nés d’esprits critiques ou moqueurs mais aussi le début d’une nouvelle opinion sur la société romaine. / Drawing the situation of the Imperial roman society, through a part of her population, the freedmen’s one, let us study a particular and real life of this period. Indeed, formers slaves become, by the manumissio, Roman citizens but a dichotomy clearly emerge : freedmen not only endure the macula, this social inferiority due to their slavish origins, but a lot of them also were trying to overstep this fatality in order to raise themselves in the rank of the most influential citizens of the city. Nevertheless, by law, politics and intellect, the image of the freedmen in Rome was often devaluated. It is revealing as much in legal and official vocabulary used for define them as in portrays which Latin literature makes of them. Moreover, this inequality was considered by the freedmen like an obstruction to their individuality and so, they had to search, by their competences, their personal ambitions, sometimes their arrangements, to be visible for the free-born citizens. By the light of epigraphically sources, we want to see the different sectors, public or private, in which this presence has spread and how Rome has considered this population. Freedmen’s presence and effect on the moral and cultural traditions of Imperial period created thoughts matters, issued often from critical or mocking spirits but the beginning of a new thinking about the Roman society too.

This dissertation is a narrative history about nearly 800 newly freed black Georgians who sought freedom beyond the borders of the Unites States by emigrating to Liberia during the years of 1866 and 1868. This work fulfills three overarching goals. First, I demonstrate that during the wake of Reconstruction, newly freed persons’ interest in returning to Africa did not die with the Civil War. Second, I identify and analyze the motivations of blacks seeking autonomy in Africa. Third, I tell the stories and challenges of those black Georgians who chose emigration as the means to civil and political freedom in the face of white opposition. In understanding the motives of black Georgians who emigrated to Liberia, I analyze correspondence from black and white Georgians and the white leaders of the American Colonization Society and letters from Liberia settlers to black friends and families in the Unites States. These letters can be found within the American Colonization Society Papers correspondence files and some letters reprinted in the ACS’s monthly periodical, the African Repository. To date, no single work has been published on the historical significance of black Georgians who emigrated to Liberia during Reconstruction. What my research uncovers is that that 31 percent of the 3,184 passengers transported to West Africa by the American Colonization Society from 1865 to 1877 were Georgians, thereby making Georgia, the leading states to produce the highest numbers of blacks to resettle in Liberia and the logical focal point for the African-American emigration movement during Reconstruction.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Joe M. Richardson, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of History. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 8, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains v, 75 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

A dissertação analisa a trajetória social dos libertos de Mariana (MG) na segunda metade do século XVIII, período caracterizado pela reorganização da economia local, após o auge da mineração. Ao longo do século formou-se, naquela sociedade, um contingente significativo de egressos do cativeiro. O trabalho procura demonstrar, por meio do exame de diversos repertórios documentais (registros de óbitos, testamentos, inventários e ações cíveis), que o aspecto central daquelas trajetórias sociais foi a obtenção da liberdade. Ainda que a maior parte desses libertos contraísse dívidas e morresse na pobreza, a alforria representava o ponto de inflexão decisivo em suas vidas. / This work analyses the social trajectory of the freedmen in Mariana (MG) in the second half of the eighteenth century, a period characterized by the reorganization of the local economy, after the mining peak. Throughout the century, a significant contingent of people released from captivity was formed in that society. This work aims at demonstrating, through the exam of several documents, death records, testaments, inventories e civil actions, that the central aspect of such social trajectories was the conquest of freedom. Although most of the freedmen obtained debts and died in poverty, the manumission represented the turning point in their lives.

Argomento centrale della ricerca è il rapporto tra liberti imperiali e comunità cittadine in Italia durante i primi secoli dell'impero. Sulla base della raccolta e dell'esame del materiale epigrafico si è cercato di ricostruire il ruolo del gruppo sociale libertino nelle città, i loro legami con il territorio e con gli altri cittadini, la loro disponibilità economica e, di conseguenza, i principali ambiti di investimento. Il quadro che è emerso evidenzia una diffusa eterogeneità, sia nello spazio che nel tempo, delle manifestazioni della presenza libertina sul suolo italico.

The purpose of this study was to document the history of Susie G. Gibson High School from its opening in 1954 to its closure in 1970. The researcher documented and described the establishment, operation, and closure of the school. The study includes a description of how Bedford County transitioned from a dual system of segregated education to a single school system for students of all races and how Susie G. Gibson High School was converted for use as a vocational school as it still functions today. Historical research methods were used to collect data and describe the education of Black students who attended the Susie G. Gibson High School. The evidence for the study consists of primary and secondary sources. This evidence includes written records, archives, manuscripts, maps and documents, but also artifacts (Williams, 2007, p.11). The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with students, school employees, and community members who were involved with the school. Minutes of school board meetings and other contemporary records were utilized as well. Studies by Bonner (1939) and Harrell (1951) and histories by other authors were used as secondary sources for historical context. Susie G. Gibson High School opened in the fall of 1954. It was a much anticipated event because it was the first new high school for Blacks in Bedford County, Virginia. Susie G. Gibson High School replaced the much smaller Bedford Training School that began as an elementary school, but which provided some secondary schooling after 1930. The opening of the school was a culmination of negotiations between the Black community and the Bedford County School Board. The school was the pride of the Black community for over a decade and a half. Susie G. Gibson High School changed to a vocational school in 1970 when the U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) ordered Bedford County to fully integrate its school system. / Ed. D.

This dissertation is a study of the subassistant commissioners of the Freedmen's Bureau in Texas from late 1865 to late 1868. Its focus is two-fold. It first examines who these men were. Were they northern born or southern? Did they own slaves? Were these men rich, poor, or from the middle-class? Did they have military experience or were they civilians? How old was the average subassistant commissioner in Texas? This work will answer what man Freedmen's Bureau officials deemed qualified to transition the former slave from bondage to freedom. Secondly, in conjunction with these questions, this work will examine the day-to-day operations of the Bureau agents in Texas, chronicling those aspects endemic to all agents as well as those unique to certain subdistricts. The demand of being a Bureau agent was immense, requiring long hours in the office fielding questions and long hours in the saddle inspecting subdistricts. In essence, their work advising, protecting, and educating the freedmen was a never ending one. The records of the Freedmen's Bureau, both the records for headquarters and the subassistant commissioners, serve as the main sources, but numerous newspapers, Texas state official correspondences, and military records proved helpful. Immense amounts of information arrived at Bureau headquarters from field personnel. This work relies heavily on reports and letters in the Bureau agents' own words. This dissertation follows a chronological approach, following the various Bureau administrations in Texas. I believe this approach allows the reader to better glimpse events as they happened.

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar as buscas pela liberdade projetadas por escravos e libertos, durante o período de 1850/1888 no município de Pelotas, localizado no sul do Brasil. Investigo, sobretudo, a passagem da escravidão para a liberdade, tratando dos padrões de alforria e da inserção social dos libertos. Entre as questões que norteiam a pesquisa uma central é de analisar quais foram os mecanismos da alforria agenciados pelos cativos, assim como, investigar trajetórias de africanos libertos e de como estes sujeitos vivenciavam suas experiências de liberdade ainda dentro de uma sociedade escravista. O objetivo da tese é investigar sobre a passagem do cativeiro para a liberdade através dos padrões de alforria. Assim sendo, busco analisar a população alforriada, demonstrando o perfil do escravo liberto analisando às seguintes variáveis: a origem, o sexo, a profissão e os tipos de alforrias. As conclusões apontam para uma presença significativa de alforrias gratuitas e condicionais, tendo uma predominância de mulheres e escravos crioulos na obtenção da liberdade. No que tange a população de africanos, observou-se uma presença expressiva dos homens em todas as modalidades de alforria alcançadas por tais sujeitos. Fato este que aponta para uma singularidade do processo de manumissão comparado com outras regiões brasileiras. Além disso, entre os africanos, constatou-se que os oriundos da costa ocidental eram alforriados em proporção maior do que os demais grupos de africanos presentes na sociedade escravista de Pelotas. Nas linhas que se seguem, pretendo analisar as estratégias elaboradas por esta população africana para fazer-se livre dentro de um período ainda de vigência da escravidão e os arranjos feitos para a conquista da carta de liberdade. Tal conquista não foi apenas produto da força do libertando, mas muitas vezes envolvia projetos familiares e redes de solidariedade. De acordo com a investigação veremos que a liberdade nessa sociedade escravista ora analisada era uma construção feita no cotidiano de homens e mulheres escravizados, que muitas vezes tinha início com a alforria, todavia manter-se livre dentro de uma sociedade hierárquica escravista era um longo e difícil caminho para essas pessoas. Outro objetivo que persigo na tese é de analisar as experiências de liberdade de um grupo de vinte e seis indivíduos africanos libertos, especialmente os afro-ocidentais, oriundos da Costa da Mina. A partir de estudos de casos desses ex-escravizados tento compreender como estes sujeitos conseguiram sobreviver dentro de uma sociedade escravista e racializada no Oitocentos e como essas pessoas alcançaram alguma mobilidade social e econômica durante a vida em liberdade. Os fragmentos das trajetórias individuais e coletivas dos sujeitos ora investigados apontaram para uma comunidade pautada por fortes laços de parentesco étnico. A vida ou a sobrevivência em liberdade (ou a sobrevivência) destes indivíduos foi reorganizada e reelaborada na diáspora na América em torno do parentesco étnico, lutando pela liberdade e por espaços de cidadania dentro da escravidão brasileira. / This research aims to analyze the pursuit for freedom designed by slaves and freedmen, during the period of 1850/1888 in the municipality of Pelotas, located in the south of Brazil. I investigate, above all, the transition from slavery to freedom, dealing with the standards of manumission and the social insertion of freedmen. Among the questions that guide the research, a central one is to analyze which were the agency mechanisms run by the captives, as well as to investigate the trajectories of freed Africans and how these subjects lived their experiences of freedom within a slave society. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the passage from captivity to freedom through the standards of manumission. Therefore, I try to analyze the freed population, demonstrating the profile of the freed slaves by analyzing the following variables: origins, gender, occupation and types of manumission. The conclusions point to a significant presence of free and conditional manumissions, with a predominance of Creole slaves and women in obtaining freedom. With regard to the African population, there was an expressive presence of men in all modes of manumission achieved by such subjects. This fact points to a singularity of the manumission process compared to other Brazilian regions. Moreover, among the Africans, it was found that those from the West Coast were freed in greater proportion than the other groups of Africans present in the slave society of Pelotas. In the following lines, I intend to analyze the strategies developed by this African population that struggled to obtain their release within a period where the force of slavery was prevalent and the arrangements made by the slaves for the conquest of manumission. This achievement was not only a product of the individual slave agency, but often involved family projects and solidarity networks. According to the investigation, freedom in the slave society analyzed here was a construction made in the daily life of enslaved men and women, who often began with manumission, yet remaining free within a slave hierarchical society was a long and difficult experience for these people. Another objective of the thesis is to analyze the experiences of freedom of a group of twenty-six freed African individuals, especially those from the West Coast (Costa da Mina). From some case studies of these ex-slaves, I try to understand how these subjects managed to survive within a racialized society in the nineteenth century and how these people attained some social and economic mobility during their free life. The fragments of individual and collective trajectories of the subjects investigated have pointed to a community based on strong ties of ethnic kinship. The life in freedom (or survival) of these individuals was reorganized and re-elaborated in the American diaspora around ethnic kinship, fighting for freedom and spaces of citizenship within Brazilian slavery.

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar as buscas pela liberdade projetadas por escravos e libertos, durante o período de 1850/1888 no município de Pelotas, localizado no sul do Brasil. Investigo, sobretudo, a passagem da escravidão para a liberdade, tratando dos padrões de alforria e da inserção social dos libertos. Entre as questões que norteiam a pesquisa uma central é de analisar quais foram os mecanismos da alforria agenciados pelos cativos, assim como, investigar trajetórias de africanos libertos e de como estes sujeitos vivenciavam suas experiências de liberdade ainda dentro de uma sociedade escravista. O objetivo da tese é investigar sobre a passagem do cativeiro para a liberdade através dos padrões de alforria. Assim sendo, busco analisar a população alforriada, demonstrando o perfil do escravo liberto analisando às seguintes variáveis: a origem, o sexo, a profissão e os tipos de alforrias. As conclusões apontam para uma presença significativa de alforrias gratuitas e condicionais, tendo uma predominância de mulheres e escravos crioulos na obtenção da liberdade. No que tange a população de africanos, observou-se uma presença expressiva dos homens em todas as modalidades de alforria alcançadas por tais sujeitos. Fato este que aponta para uma singularidade do processo de manumissão comparado com outras regiões brasileiras. Além disso, entre os africanos, constatou-se que os oriundos da costa ocidental eram alforriados em proporção maior do que os demais grupos de africanos presentes na sociedade escravista de Pelotas. Nas linhas que se seguem, pretendo analisar as estratégias elaboradas por esta população africana para fazer-se livre dentro de um período ainda de vigência da escravidão e os arranjos feitos para a conquista da carta de liberdade. Tal conquista não foi apenas produto da força do libertando, mas muitas vezes envolvia projetos familiares e redes de solidariedade. De acordo com a investigação veremos que a liberdade nessa sociedade escravista ora analisada era uma construção feita no cotidiano de homens e mulheres escravizados, que muitas vezes tinha início com a alforria, todavia manter-se livre dentro de uma sociedade hierárquica escravista era um longo e difícil caminho para essas pessoas. Outro objetivo que persigo na tese é de analisar as experiências de liberdade de um grupo de vinte e seis indivíduos africanos libertos, especialmente os afro-ocidentais, oriundos da Costa da Mina. A partir de estudos de casos desses ex-escravizados tento compreender como estes sujeitos conseguiram sobreviver dentro de uma sociedade escravista e racializada no Oitocentos e como essas pessoas alcançaram alguma mobilidade social e econômica durante a vida em liberdade. Os fragmentos das trajetórias individuais e coletivas dos sujeitos ora investigados apontaram para uma comunidade pautada por fortes laços de parentesco étnico. A vida ou a sobrevivência em liberdade (ou a sobrevivência) destes indivíduos foi reorganizada e reelaborada na diáspora na América em torno do parentesco étnico, lutando pela liberdade e por espaços de cidadania dentro da escravidão brasileira. / This research aims to analyze the pursuit for freedom designed by slaves and freedmen, during the period of 1850/1888 in the municipality of Pelotas, located in the south of Brazil. I investigate, above all, the transition from slavery to freedom, dealing with the standards of manumission and the social insertion of freedmen. Among the questions that guide the research, a central one is to analyze which were the agency mechanisms run by the captives, as well as to investigate the trajectories of freed Africans and how these subjects lived their experiences of freedom within a slave society. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the passage from captivity to freedom through the standards of manumission. Therefore, I try to analyze the freed population, demonstrating the profile of the freed slaves by analyzing the following variables: origins, gender, occupation and types of manumission. The conclusions point to a significant presence of free and conditional manumissions, with a predominance of Creole slaves and women in obtaining freedom. With regard to the African population, there was an expressive presence of men in all modes of manumission achieved by such subjects. This fact points to a singularity of the manumission process compared to other Brazilian regions. Moreover, among the Africans, it was found that those from the West Coast were freed in greater proportion than the other groups of Africans present in the slave society of Pelotas. In the following lines, I intend to analyze the strategies developed by this African population that struggled to obtain their release within a period where the force of slavery was prevalent and the arrangements made by the slaves for the conquest of manumission. This achievement was not only a product of the individual slave agency, but often involved family projects and solidarity networks. According to the investigation, freedom in the slave society analyzed here was a construction made in the daily life of enslaved men and women, who often began with manumission, yet remaining free within a slave hierarchical society was a long and difficult experience for these people. Another objective of the thesis is to analyze the experiences of freedom of a group of twenty-six freed African individuals, especially those from the West Coast (Costa da Mina). From some case studies of these ex-slaves, I try to understand how these subjects managed to survive within a racialized society in the nineteenth century and how these people attained some social and economic mobility during their free life. The fragments of individual and collective trajectories of the subjects investigated have pointed to a community based on strong ties of ethnic kinship. The life in freedom (or survival) of these individuals was reorganized and re-elaborated in the American diaspora around ethnic kinship, fighting for freedom and spaces of citizenship within Brazilian slavery.

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar as buscas pela liberdade projetadas por escravos e libertos, durante o período de 1850/1888 no município de Pelotas, localizado no sul do Brasil. Investigo, sobretudo, a passagem da escravidão para a liberdade, tratando dos padrões de alforria e da inserção social dos libertos. Entre as questões que norteiam a pesquisa uma central é de analisar quais foram os mecanismos da alforria agenciados pelos cativos, assim como, investigar trajetórias de africanos libertos e de como estes sujeitos vivenciavam suas experiências de liberdade ainda dentro de uma sociedade escravista. O objetivo da tese é investigar sobre a passagem do cativeiro para a liberdade através dos padrões de alforria. Assim sendo, busco analisar a população alforriada, demonstrando o perfil do escravo liberto analisando às seguintes variáveis: a origem, o sexo, a profissão e os tipos de alforrias. As conclusões apontam para uma presença significativa de alforrias gratuitas e condicionais, tendo uma predominância de mulheres e escravos crioulos na obtenção da liberdade. No que tange a população de africanos, observou-se uma presença expressiva dos homens em todas as modalidades de alforria alcançadas por tais sujeitos. Fato este que aponta para uma singularidade do processo de manumissão comparado com outras regiões brasileiras. Além disso, entre os africanos, constatou-se que os oriundos da costa ocidental eram alforriados em proporção maior do que os demais grupos de africanos presentes na sociedade escravista de Pelotas. Nas linhas que se seguem, pretendo analisar as estratégias elaboradas por esta população africana para fazer-se livre dentro de um período ainda de vigência da escravidão e os arranjos feitos para a conquista da carta de liberdade. Tal conquista não foi apenas produto da força do libertando, mas muitas vezes envolvia projetos familiares e redes de solidariedade. De acordo com a investigação veremos que a liberdade nessa sociedade escravista ora analisada era uma construção feita no cotidiano de homens e mulheres escravizados, que muitas vezes tinha início com a alforria, todavia manter-se livre dentro de uma sociedade hierárquica escravista era um longo e difícil caminho para essas pessoas. Outro objetivo que persigo na tese é de analisar as experiências de liberdade de um grupo de vinte e seis indivíduos africanos libertos, especialmente os afro-ocidentais, oriundos da Costa da Mina. A partir de estudos de casos desses ex-escravizados tento compreender como estes sujeitos conseguiram sobreviver dentro de uma sociedade escravista e racializada no Oitocentos e como essas pessoas alcançaram alguma mobilidade social e econômica durante a vida em liberdade. Os fragmentos das trajetórias individuais e coletivas dos sujeitos ora investigados apontaram para uma comunidade pautada por fortes laços de parentesco étnico. A vida ou a sobrevivência em liberdade (ou a sobrevivência) destes indivíduos foi reorganizada e reelaborada na diáspora na América em torno do parentesco étnico, lutando pela liberdade e por espaços de cidadania dentro da escravidão brasileira. / This research aims to analyze the pursuit for freedom designed by slaves and freedmen, during the period of 1850/1888 in the municipality of Pelotas, located in the south of Brazil. I investigate, above all, the transition from slavery to freedom, dealing with the standards of manumission and the social insertion of freedmen. Among the questions that guide the research, a central one is to analyze which were the agency mechanisms run by the captives, as well as to investigate the trajectories of freed Africans and how these subjects lived their experiences of freedom within a slave society. The purpose of the thesis is to investigate the passage from captivity to freedom through the standards of manumission. Therefore, I try to analyze the freed population, demonstrating the profile of the freed slaves by analyzing the following variables: origins, gender, occupation and types of manumission. The conclusions point to a significant presence of free and conditional manumissions, with a predominance of Creole slaves and women in obtaining freedom. With regard to the African population, there was an expressive presence of men in all modes of manumission achieved by such subjects. This fact points to a singularity of the manumission process compared to other Brazilian regions. Moreover, among the Africans, it was found that those from the West Coast were freed in greater proportion than the other groups of Africans present in the slave society of Pelotas. In the following lines, I intend to analyze the strategies developed by this African population that struggled to obtain their release within a period where the force of slavery was prevalent and the arrangements made by the slaves for the conquest of manumission. This achievement was not only a product of the individual slave agency, but often involved family projects and solidarity networks. According to the investigation, freedom in the slave society analyzed here was a construction made in the daily life of enslaved men and women, who often began with manumission, yet remaining free within a slave hierarchical society was a long and difficult experience for these people. Another objective of the thesis is to analyze the experiences of freedom of a group of twenty-six freed African individuals, especially those from the West Coast (Costa da Mina). From some case studies of these ex-slaves, I try to understand how these subjects managed to survive within a racialized society in the nineteenth century and how these people attained some social and economic mobility during their free life. The fragments of individual and collective trajectories of the subjects investigated have pointed to a community based on strong ties of ethnic kinship. The life in freedom (or survival) of these individuals was reorganized and re-elaborated in the American diaspora around ethnic kinship, fighting for freedom and spaces of citizenship within Brazilian slavery.