The Black community in Boone County, Missouri, 1850-1900
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"Looking at the black community in one county of a border state during the last half of the nineteenth century enables the historian to examine the continuities of the Afro-American's life in the antebellum period and afterward. At this local level the sufferings, hardships, joys, and triumphs of the slaves and freedmen become sharply detailed. Because of its slave heritage, Boone County, Missouri, makes an excellent subject for such an examination. The black population of the county from 1850 to 1900 remained large enough to analyze its reactions to slavery and emancipation. Yet, it was small enough to allow a generational study of several families. During these years the black population reached its peak in 1860 when 26 percent of the county population was black. All but 1 percent of these Afro-Americans were slaves. By the turn of the century blacks composed only about 16 percent of the county's population (see Appendix 1). From this county population the historian can trace the separation of slave family members through sales and estate settlements, their efforts to maintain contact with each other, and their reunion with emancipation. The historian is able to discuss the reactions of these people to freedom and their attempt to ameliorate their economic and social situation. With the generational study the historian can watch the development of the leadership class of the community both in the slave generation and in its children. The interactions of the black and white communities become sharply focused at the county level and help the historian realize the role that race relations played for the black community. Through such an analysis, which focuses on a local setting like Boone County, the historian understands better the social, economic, and cultural life the Afro- Americans established for themselves in their community."--Pages 4-5.
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