Beautiful, Steve—thank you. I loved Tom’s chapter, “Let My People Go,” and was especially struck by Thavolia Glymph’s sense of optimism about where this history is headed.
I hope you’ll plan to attend our first national symposium, After a Long Silence: The Emerging History of the American Contrabands, this spring at Fort Monroe. The Save the Dates will be going out soon.
And speaking of music: at their first Christmas Eve in freedom in 1861, the Contrabands gathered with Union officers, soldiers, teachers, and Contraband children in a classroom at the Female Seminary in Hampton. Together, with the children leading the way, they opened the evening’s program by singing “My Country, ’Tis of Thee.” Happy Holidays. L
Thank you, Steven, well written and informative as always.
Just finished an article in *The Civil War Monitor*, Winter, 2025, “Contrabands,” by Tracy L. Barnett. Near the end she states, “Despite the term’s popularity among whites, enslaved people hardly ever referred to themselves as contrabands. *The Liberator,* an abolitionist newspaper in Massachusetts, noted that ‘it is not a proper term to be applied to human beings,’ preferring instead the term ‘Colored Refugees.’”
That being said, I am still thankful that Fort Monroe’s commander, Benjamin Franklin Butler, developed the concept as a way to protect those who escaped to Union lines from their enslavement.
Beautiful, Steve—thank you. I loved Tom’s chapter, “Let My People Go,” and was especially struck by Thavolia Glymph’s sense of optimism about where this history is headed.
I hope you’ll plan to attend our first national symposium, After a Long Silence: The Emerging History of the American Contrabands, this spring at Fort Monroe. The Save the Dates will be going out soon.
And speaking of music: at their first Christmas Eve in freedom in 1861, the Contrabands gathered with Union officers, soldiers, teachers, and Contraband children in a classroom at the Female Seminary in Hampton. Together, with the children leading the way, they opened the evening’s program by singing “My Country, ’Tis of Thee.” Happy Holidays. L
Hi Liza. Did the seminary survive the burning of Hampton in August?
Yes. The Burning of Hampton was mainly in the downtown area. The Seminary was located over the bridge in modern-day Phoebus.
Thanks, Steve. Beautiful essay on this powerful book. I’m reading it now. When you get the dates for the conference, please share.
Thank you, Steven, well written and informative as always.
Just finished an article in *The Civil War Monitor*, Winter, 2025, “Contrabands,” by Tracy L. Barnett. Near the end she states, “Despite the term’s popularity among whites, enslaved people hardly ever referred to themselves as contrabands. *The Liberator,* an abolitionist newspaper in Massachusetts, noted that ‘it is not a proper term to be applied to human beings,’ preferring instead the term ‘Colored Refugees.’”
That being said, I am still thankful that Fort Monroe’s commander, Benjamin Franklin Butler, developed the concept as a way to protect those who escaped to Union lines from their enslavement.