Beyond Freedom’s Reach

A Kidnapping in the Twilight of Slavery

Adam Rothman

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Hardback

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English

Harvard University Press
25 February 2015

History; Slavery & abolition of slavery; American Civil War; Legal history

Born into slavery in rural Louisiana, Rose Herera was bought and sold several times before being purchased by the De Hart family of New Orleans. Still a slave, she married and had children, who also became the property of the De Harts. But after Union forces captured New Orleans in 1862 during the American Civil War, Herera's owners fled to Havana, taking three of her small children with them. Beyond Freedom's Reach is the true story of one woman's quest to rescue her children from bondage.

In a gripping, meticulously researched account, Adam Rothman lays bare the mayhem of emancipation during and after the Civil War. Just how far the rights of freed slaves extended was unclear to black and white people alike, and so when Mary De Hart returned to New Orleans in 1865 to visit friends, she was surprised to find herself taken into custody as a kidnapper. The case of Rose Herera's abducted children made its way through New Orleans' courts, igniting a custody battle that revealed the prospects and limits of justice during Reconstruction.

Rose Herera's perseverance brought her children's plight to the attention of members of the U.S. Senate and State Department, who turned a domestic conflict into an international scandal. Beyond Freedom's Reach is an unforgettable human drama and a poignant reflection on the tangled politics of slavery and the hazards faced by so many Americans on the hard road to freedom.

By: Adam Rothman
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 408g
ISBN: 9780674368125
ISBN 10: 0674368126
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 25 February 2015
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Adam Rothman is Associate Professor of History, Georgetown University.

Reviews for Beyond Freedom’s Reach: A Kidnapping in the Twilight of Slavery

Amidst slavery s unraveling in New Orleans, Rose Herera fought to prevent her owner from taking her children to Havana, beyond freedom s reach. <b>Rothman</b> s recovery of Herera s remarkable story, her incarceration and journey through the legal system to rescue her children, marks an important contribution to the history of emancipation and the contingency of wartime freedom.--Thavolia Glymph, author of <i>Out of the House of Bondage: The Transformation of the Plantation Household</i>