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In Full Force and Virtue: North Carolina Emancipation Records 1713-1860In Full Force and Virtue: North Carolina Emancipation Records 1713-1860. William L. Byrd III. Softcover, 1999, 8.5 x 11, Append., Index, 358 pp.
�There is a wealth of information abounding in the petitions wherein masters expostulate to the court the reasons for wishing to free their slaves. The petitions reveal relationships between diverse cultures and races, and many of them depict those relationships on an intimate level. Long obscure, these records have mostly remained out of reach of the general public. The purpose of this book is to change that, and make them available to laymen and scholars alike.� Between 1715 and 1861, the government of North Carolina instituted a series of increasingly restrictive emancipation laws. The resulting sad plight of the slaves is brought to life by these recorded pleas for liberation. Transcriptions of individual emancipation petitions from the North Carolina State Archives are grouped by county: Bertie, Buncombe, Caswell, Chatham, Chowan, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin, Edgecombe, Franklin, Gates, Granville. Guilford, Halifax, Lincoln, New Hanover, Orange, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry, Wake, Warren, Wayne, and Wilkes. Many petitions recorded pertain to enslaved North Carolina Indians, particularly women and children. Supplemental sections containing acts of emancipation by the General Assembly, emancipation laws, Quaker documents, and a fullname plus subject index are included. #B961 ISBN 0-7884-1241-8 |