Elise Lemire
Purchase College, SUNY (Purchase, NY 10577-1402)
FB-52999-07
Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars
Research Programs
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[Grant products][Media coverage]
Totals:
$40,000 (approved)
$40,000 (awarded)
Grant period:
6/1/2007 – 5/31/2008
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Slavery and Freedom in Concord, Massachusetts, 1740-1822
This project contributes to the burgeoning field of New England slavery studies by unearthing the lived experiences of Africans, African descendants, and whites in Concord, from the inception of slavery there through the immediate aftermath of its demise. Concord makes an excellent case study, for while the number of slaves there is entirely typical for Massachusetts, the archives are far more extensive than in most towns, a result of Concord’s pride in the part it played in the birthing of the nation and its literature. Throughout the project, I connect the history of race politics in Concord with the town’s geography, thereby elucidating the link between slavery and Thoreau’s later conception of “nature.”
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