Research Catalog

The Black Civil War soldier : a visual history of conflict and citizenship

Title
The Black Civil War soldier : a visual history of conflict and citizenship / Deborah Willis.
Author
Willis, Deborah, 1948-
Publication
New York : New York University Press, [2021]

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TextUse in library Sc F 21-38Schomburg Center - Research & Reference

Details

Description
x, 243 pages : illustrations (chiefly color); 27 cm.
Summary
A stunning collection of stoic portraits and intimate ephemera from the lives of Black Civil War soldiers.. Though both the Union and Confederate armies excluded African American men from their initial calls to arms, many of the men who eventually served were black. Simultaneously, photography culture blossomed-marking the Civil War as the first conflict to be extensively documented through photographs. In The Black Civil War Soldier, Deb Willis explores the crucial role of photography in (re)telling and shaping African American narratives of the Civil War, pulling from a dynamic visual archive that has largely gone unacknowledged... With over seventy images, The Black Civil War Soldier contains a huge breadth of primary and archival materials, many of which are rarely reproduced. The photographs are supplemented with handwritten captions, letters, and other personal materials Willis not only dives into the lives of black Union soldiers, but also includes stories of other African Americans involved with the struggle-from left-behind family members to female spies. Willis thus compiles a captivating memoir of photographs and words and examines them together to address themes of love and longing responsibility and fear commitment and patriotism and-most predominantly-African American resilience... The Black Civil War Soldier offers a kaleidoscopic yet intimate portrait of the African American experience, from the beginning of the Civil War to 1900. Through her multimedia analysis, Willis acutely pinpoints the importance of African American communities in the development and prosecution of the war. The book shows how photography helped construct a national vision of blackness, war, and bondage, while unearthing the hidden histories of these black Civil War soldiers. In combating the erasure of this often overlooked history, Willis asks how these images might offer a more nuanced memory of African-American participation in the Civil War, and in doing so, points to individual and collective struggles for citizenship and remembrance.
Series Statement
NYU series in social and cultural analysis
Uniform Title
NYU series in social and cultural analysis.
Subjects
Genre/Form
  • Biography.
  • Biographies.
  • History.
  • Pictorial works.
  • Portraits.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-228) and index.
Contents
1860-61 : the war begins -- 1861-62 : visualizing the plan for victory -- 1863 : men of color, to arms! -- 1864 : Black men in battle -- 1865-66 : the end of the war.
Call Number
Sc F 21-38
ISBN
  • 9781479809004
  • 1479809004
LCCN
  • 2020015037
  • 40030378243
OCLC
1149251645
Author
Willis, Deborah, 1948- author.
Title
The Black Civil War soldier : a visual history of conflict and citizenship / Deborah Willis.
Publisher
New York : New York University Press, [2021]
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Series
NYU series in social and cultural analysis
NYU series in social and cultural analysis.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-228) and index.
Local Note
Schomburg copy with dust jacket.
Local Subject
Black author.
Chronological Term
1861-1865
Other Standard Identifier
40030378243
Research Call Number
Sc F 21-38
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