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Full Description
Conventional wisdom tells us that marriage was illegal for African Americans during the antebellum era, and that if people married at all, their vows were tenuous ones: "until death or distance do us part." It is an impression that imbues beliefs about black families to this day. But it's a perception primarily based on documents produced by abolitionists, the state, or other partisans. It doesn't tell the whole story.
Drawing on a trove of less well-known sources including family histories, folk stories, memoirs, sermons, and especially the fascinating writings from the Afro-Protestant Press,'Til Death or Distance Do Us Part offers a radically different perspective on antebellum love and family life.
Frances Smith Foster applies the knowledge she's developed over a lifetime of reading and thinking. Advocating both the potency of skepticism and the importance of story-telling, her book shows the way toward a more genuine, more affirmative understanding of African American romance, both then and now.
Contents
One: Adam and Eve, Antony and Isabella ; Two: Terms of Endearment ; Three: Practical Thoughts, Divine Mandates, and the Afro-Protestant Press ; Four: Rights and Rituals ; Five: Myths, Memory, and Self-Realization ; Six: Getting Stories Straight, Keeping Them Real ; Seven: Alchemy of Personal Politics ; Eight: Me, Mende, and Sankofa: An Epilogue
