The Emancipation Proclamation: Black Soldiers Respond
In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. As I discussed a few weeks ago, the promotion of black military service was among the Emancipation Proclamation’s most controversial and significant provisions. Black men were eager to join the Union military from the start of the Civil War. Freedmen penned letters to President Lincoln and other officials calling for black recruitment as early as 1861. Rarely did officials respond to these poignant letters (…
The Emancipation Proclamation: White Minnesotans Respond
In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. The Civil War obscures a concurrent war fought by the Union, also on American soil: the Dakota War of 1862. What sparked the violent outbreak between the Dakota (also known as the Eastern Sioux) and white Minnesotans? Increasing numbers of white settlers encroached on Dakota territories, especially after Minnesota gained statehood in 1859. Additionally, the Union’s failure to promptly submit the annuity…
The Emancipation Proclamation: The New York Times and Martin Delany Respond
In conjunction with a current exhibit, the Brooklyn Historical Society blog is featuring a series of blog posts called “The Emancipation Proclamation: Americans Respond.” Learn more here. The Emancipation Proclamation was considered the most radical of the Union’s war initiatives, not in the least because it publicized the legalization of black men’s military recruitment--publicized, not legalized. The Militia Act of 1862, issued weeks before Lincoln's September 1862 preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, first sanctioned black military service in the form of armed combat and manual labor.…