Abolitionizing Missouri: German Immigrants and Racial Ideology in Nineteenth-Century America Contributor(s): Anderson, Kristen Layne (Author) |
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ISBN: 0807161969 ISBN-13: 9780807161968 Publisher: LSU Press OUR PRICE: $45.60 Product Type: Hardcover Published: April 2016 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - History | United States - State & Local - Midwest(ia,il,in,ks,mi,mn,mo,nd,ne,oh,sd,wi - History | United States - 19th Century - Social Science | Slavery |
Dewey: 305.800 |
LCCN: 2015035213 |
Series: Antislavery, Abolition, and the Atlantic World |
Physical Information: 1.07" H x 6.23" W x 9.33" (1.27 lbs) 272 pages |
Themes: - Locality - St. Louis, Missouri - Geographic Orientation - Missouri - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Topical - Civil War - Ethnic Orientation - German |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Historians have long known that German immigrants provided much of the support for emancipation in southern Border States. Kristen Layne Anderson's Abolitionizing Missouri, however, is the first analysis of the reasons behind that opposition as well as the first exploration of the impact that the Civil War and emancipation had on German immigrants' ideas about race. Anderson focuses on the relationships between German immigrants and African Americans in St. Louis, Missouri, looking particularly at the ways in which German attitudes towards African Americans and the institution of slavery changed over time. Anderson suggests that although some German Americans deserved their reputation for racial egalitarianism, many others opposed slavery only when it served their own interests to do so. When slavery did not seem to affect their lives, they ignored it; once it began to threaten the stability of the country or their ability to get land, they opposed it. After slavery ended, most German immigrants accepted the American racial hierarchy enough to enjoy its benefits, and had little interest in helping tear it down, particularly when doing so angered their native-born white neighbors. |