Fathers of Conscience: Mixed-Race Inheritance in the Antebellum South Contributor(s): Jones, Bernie D. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0820332518 ISBN-13: 9780820332512 Publisher: University of Georgia Press OUR PRICE: $29.40 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: February 2009 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - History | United States - 19th Century - History | United States - State & Local - South (al,ar,fl,ga,ky,la,ms,nc,sc,tn,va,wv) - Law | Legal History |
Dewey: 342.750 |
LCCN: 2008043133 |
Series: Studies in the Legal History of the South |
Physical Information: 0.6" H x 5.9" W x 8.9" (0.70 lbs) 216 pages |
Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Chronological Period - 1800-1850 - Topical - Black History - Cultural Region - South |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Fathers of Conscience examines high-court decisions in the antebellum South that involved wills in which white male planters bequeathed property, freedom, or both to women of color and their mixed-race children. These men, whose wills were contested by their white relatives, had used trusts and estates law to give their slave partners and children official recognition and thus circumvent the law of slavery. The will contests that followed determined whether that elevated status would be approved or denied by courts of law. Bernie D. Jones argues that these will contests indicated a struggle within the elite over race, gender, and class issues--over questions of social mores and who was truly family. Judges thus acted as umpires after a man's death, deciding whether to permit his attempts to provide for his slave partner and family. Her analysis of these differing judicial opinions on inheritance rights for slave partners makes an important contribution to the literature on the law of slavery in the United States. |
Contributor Bio(s): Huebner, Timothy S.: - TIMOTHY S. HUEBNER, an associate professor of history at Rhodes College, is author of The Taney Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy and coeditor, with Kermit L. Hall, of Major Problems in American Constitutional History, second edition. He and Paul Finkelman edit the series Studies in the Legal History of the South.Jones, Bernie D.: - BERNIE D. JONES is an assistant professor in the legal studies department at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. |