{"title":"Amrita Chakrabarti Myers","description":"Amrita Chakrabarti Myers is associate professor of history at Indiana University at Bloomington.","products":[{"product_id":"forging-freedom-black-women-and-the-pursuit-of-liberty-in-antebellum-charleston-paperback","title":"Forging Freedom: Black Women and the Pursuit of Liberty in Antebellum Charleston - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eFor black women in antebellum Charleston, freedom was not a static legal category but a fragile and contingent experience. In this deeply researched social history, Amrita Chakrabarti Myers analyzes the ways in which black women in Charleston acquired, defined, and defended their own vision of freedom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDrawing on legislative and judicial materials, probate data, tax lists, church records, family papers, and more, Myers creates detailed portraits of individual women while exploring how black female Charlestonians sought to create a fuller freedom by improving their financial, social, and legal standing. Examining both those who were officially manumitted and those who lived as free persons but lacked official documentation, Myers reveals that free black women filed lawsuits and petitions, acquired property (including slaves), entered into contracts, paid taxes, earned wages, attended schools, and formed familial alliances with wealthy and powerful men, black and white -- all in an effort to solidify and expand their freedom. Never fully free, black women had to depend on their skills of negotiation in a society dedicated to upholding both slavery and patriarchy. \u003ci\u003eForging Freedom\u003c\/i\u003e examines the many ways in which Charleston's black women crafted a freedom of their own design instead of accepting the limited existence imagined for them by white Southerners.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51367077937375,"sku":"9781469619040","price":66.35,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/N7ZLgMAUs09781469619040.webp?v=1789102319"},{"product_id":"the-vice-presidents-black-wife-the-untold-life-of-julia-chinn-paperback","title":"The Vice President's Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eAward-winning historian Amrita Chakrabarti Myers has recovered the riveting, troubling, and complicated story of Julia Ann Chinn (ca. 1796-1833), the enslaved mixed-race wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, owner of Blue Spring Farm, veteran of the War of 1812, and US vice president under Martin Van Buren. Johnson never freed Chinn, but during his frequent absences from his estate, he delegated to her the management of his property, including Choctaw Academy, a boarding school for Indigenous men and boys. This meant that Chinn had substantial control over economic, social, financial, and personal affairs within the couple's world, including overseeing Blue Spring's enslaved labor force. Chinn's relationship with Johnson was unlikely a consensual one since she was never manumitted.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51368473198815,"sku":"9781469692098","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/hYvrl50Af29781469692098.webp?v=1789128488"},{"product_id":"the-vice-presidents-black-wife-the-untold-life-of-julia-chinn-hardcover","title":"The Vice President's Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eAward-winning historian Amrita Chakrabarti Myers has recovered the riveting, troubling, and complicated story of Julia Ann Chinn (ca. 1796-1833), the enslaved mixed-race wife of Richard Mentor Johnson, owner of Blue Spring Farm, veteran of the War of 1812, and US vice president under Martin Van Buren. Johnson never freed Chinn, but during his frequent absences from his estate, he delegated to her the management of his property, including Choctaw Academy, a boarding school for Indigenous men and boys. This meant that Chinn had substantial control over economic, social, financial, and personal affairs within the couple's world, including overseeing Blue Spring's enslaved labor force. Chinn's relationship with Johnson was unlikely a consensual one since she was never manumitted.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51369750102239,"sku":"9781469675237","price":32.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/n990e51vUr9781469675237.webp?v=1789146067"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/amrita-chakrabarti-myers.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}