The Claims of Kinfolk: African American Property and Community in the Nineteenth-Century South (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture)

321 Pages·2003·3.49 MB·English

by  Dylan C. Penningroth

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The Claims of Kinfolk
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The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture
waldo e. martin jr. and patricia sullivan, editors
The Claims
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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of Kinfolk
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
African American
Property and
Community in the
Nineteenth-Century
South
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dylan C. Penningroth
The University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill and London
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©2003The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by April Leidig-Higgins
Set in New Baskerville by Copperline Book Services
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for
permanence and durability of the Committee on
Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Penningroth, Dylan C.
The claims of kinfolk: African American property
and community in the nineteenth-century South /
Dylan C. Penningroth.
p. cm.—(The John Hope Franklin series in African
American history and culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn0-8078-2797-5(cloth: alk. paper)
isbn0-8078-5476-x(pbk.: alk. paper)
1. African Americans—Southern States—
Economic conditions—19th century. 2. African
Americans—Southern States—Social conditions
—19th century. 3. African Americans—Land
tenure—Southern States—History—19th cen-
tury. 4. Slaves—Southern States—Economic
conditions—19th century. 5. Slaves—Southern
States—Family relationships—History—19th
century. 6. Property—Southern States—History—
19th century. 7. Southern States—Economic
conditions—19th century. 8. Southern States—
Social conditions—19th century. 9. Slaves—
Emanicpation—Ghana—History—19th century.
10. Property—Ghana—History—19th century.
I. Title. II. Series.
e185.8 .p39 2003
333.33'5'08996073075—dc21 2003000212
cloth 07 06 05 04 03 5 4 3 2 1
paper 07 06 05 04 03 5 4 3 2 1
Portions of this work appeared, in somewhat dif-
ferent form, in Dylan Penningroth, “Slavery, Free-
dom, and Social Claims to Property,” Journal of
American History84, no. 2(Sept.1997):405–35
(reprinted by permission).
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To my family,
who showed me
what it is all about,
and the memory of
my uncle Craig
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Con†ents
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Introduction: Kinship and the Slaves’
Economy from Slavery to Freedom 1
chapter 1 One of the Family?
Abolition and Social Claims to Property
in the Gold Coast, West Africa, 1868–1930 13
chapter 2 Slavery’s Other Economy 45
chapter 3 Family and Property in Southern Slavery 79
chapter 4 In and Out of Court 111
chapter 5 Remaking Property 131
chapter 6 Remaking Kinship and Community 163
Conclusion 187
Notes 193
Bibliography 271
Acknowledgments 293
Index 297
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Illus†rations, Maps, and Figure
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illustrations
Union general Judson Kilpatrick’s operations in Georgia 3
Union general Judson Kilpatrick’s men returning to camp 3
Two views of Cape Coast Castle, ca. 1901 18
“Carriers going along beach (between Saltpond & Accra)” 19
“Grinding Corn” 21
“Commerical Strasse, Cape Coast Castle, Westafrika” 26
“Colonial Hospital, Cape Coast (Residence of Sir Garnet Wolseley
when administrator of the Gold Coast in 1874)” 27
“District Commissioner’s residence, Akusi, Volta River” 28
The Supreme Court building in Cape Coast 29
Gold Coast Legislative Council, 1919 38
Pharsalia Plantation, 1847 49
“Negro Lot of Pharsalia Plantation (detail),” 1847 50
The “quarter,” ca. 1865 92
“Plan of Druid Hill Garden” 93
Provost marshal’s office, Aquia Creek, Va., February, 1863 113
Handwritten report on a Memphis police shooting by a Freedmen’s
Bureau officer 147
Sketches of a Georgia plantation before and after emancipation 149