2. The Evidence

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we take a closer look at the evidence we have available to us when searching for the African American experience. We will look at and analyse a number of sources of evidence, including: (i) African American autobiography and biography; (ii) newspapers and journals; (iii) the census; and (iv) wills.

Course

In this course, Professor Julie Winch (University of Massachusetts, Boston) explains the continuities and changes in the experience of African Americans from 1800 to 1848. In the first two modules, we look at the methods we use to search for the African American experience and also at the sources we have available to do this. After this, we have a look at what life looked like for African Americans in 1800. From there, we juxtapose the stories of two men - Gabriel Prosser and James Forten - to show the variety of experience different African Americans had in the Early Republic. The next three module, sees us take a chronological look at the experiences of African Americans from: (i) 1800-15; (ii) 1815-30; and (iii) 1830-48.

Lecturer

Professor Julie Winch is Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She specialises in the areas of African American history, the Early American Republic, maritime history, and genealogy and family history. She has written a number of books within these areas, including Between Slavery and Freedom: Free People of Color in America from Settlement to the Civil War, and has also worked on various documentaries, including Africans in America and Who Do You Think You Are?