“How Slavery Survived the Civil War: Rethinking Confederate Refugees to Texas, 1862-1866”

A generation of scholarship has detailed how the Civil War resulted in the “destruction of slavery” and the “genesis” of new forms of labor. Yet the successful removal of between 50,000 and 150,000 slaves to Texas by Confederate slaveholders during the war fits uneasily into this dominant narrative. By looking closely at the experiences of white enslavers who moved from southern Louisiana to Texas between 1862 and 1864, this talk focuses on some important wartime continuities in the experiences of the enslaved and the enslaving. Those experiences suggest that refugeeing needs to be reconsidered not just for what it tells us about slavery’s destruction, but also for what it tells us about slavery’s resilience and adaptability even in the face of extreme threats to its survival. This talk is part of the GLC Brown Bag Lunch Series. Bring your lunch and we’ll provide the drinks & dessert.