Jumping the Legal Color Line: Negotiating Racial Geographies in the 19th Century

Summary

The legal status and civil rights of Free Persons of Color in the U.S. were constantly being negotiated throughout the 19th century from state to state, and varied from relative amounts of freedom and legal rights to strict "Black Laws" barely removed from slavery. This paper explores the ways in which Free Black Pioneers utilized the changing state and local boundaries (and with them, quickly changing legal status for Free People of Color) to their advantage, capitalizing on their racial ambiguity, as well as the uncertainty of early state laws concerning their legal status in Indiana and Illinois territories. Exploring the changing frontier as a liminal space, I argue that in the first half of the 19th century, Free People of Color actively negotiated racial geographies and geopolitical boundaries in order to secure access to local legal and social institutions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015   •
• Historical Archaeologies of Diaspora: Moving Between Boundaries and Beyond Peripheries

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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PaperId(s): 259