In the former Confederate capital of Richmond, white citizens are determined to retain control over their former slaves. This week white authorities resort to force and violence in order to preserve their control. Black citizens, although now legally free according to the federal government, are forced in Richmond to obtain passes to go about town,…
The new paradigm of Southern freedom poses a challenge for white citizens. Following two centuries of enslavement, blacks, now free, have little interest in maintaining close associations with whites. At the same time, a general lack of education, housing and jobs among freedmen ensures that relations with whites will have to continue, at least to…
The aptly-named Lafayette Church (1816-1907) is a Baptist minister who during the war pastored the First Baptist Church of Alma, Michigan, when not soldering. A captain in Company D, 26th Michigan Infantry during the war, he was commissioned unit chaplain on April 2, 1864. Today he musters out of military service at Alexandria, Virginia. While…