Black Property Owners in the South, 1790-1915

Download or read book Black Property Owners in the South, 1790-1915 written by Loren Schweninger and published by Urbana : University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The significance of this study transcends the statistical and biographical data on property holders. The how much, and where, and when tell only part of the story, although the evidence strongly suggests that in their determination to secure an economic stake, tens of thousands of blacks -- far from being landless peasants -- made impressive gains in their efforts to acquire land and personal holdings. Its importance lies in a fuller appreciation of American values and their impact on the lives of a people torn from their native land and thrust into an alien, sometimes hostile, environment. By focusing on propertied blacks themselves -- their values, attitudes, ideals, their relations with whites -- and by examining those who rose to the top of the economic ladder, as well as those who aspired to do so but failed, we can perhaps better comprehend the ambiguous tension between race consciousness and the strong impulse of so many blacks to 'integrate' themselves into American civilization" -- p. 5