Out of This Strife Will Come Freedom: Free People of Color and the Fight for Equal Rights in the Civil War Era

Free people of color were both architects of equal rights and active participants in the Civil War, on and off the battlefield. Their unique status as already free persons before emancipation shaped their experiences of military service, political activism, and community life in ways distinct from those newly freed from slavery and affected how they navigated the pursuit of equal rights.

In this groundbreaking work, Warren Eugene Milteer Jr. brings the stories of free people of color to the ...