1. Photo Essay
Subtopic: Family
NATALIE NEWMAN AND
MEGHA PATEL

2. “MEANING OF FREEDOM” THESIS
• During Southern Reconstruction,
emancipated African Americans rejected
white authority by striving for social,
economic, and political freedom through
unification and improvement of black
communities while aspiring to acquire
property and control over their own labor,
and political equality and involvement.

3. SUB-THESIS: FAMILY
• African Americans were unified and
liberated in their aspirations to social
independence through establishing new
familial roles, migrating to developing black
communities, and rejecting obedience to
their previous white oppressors.

4. Domestic Responsibilities; Familial Roles;
Liberty

5. COMMUNITY; FAMILY; ADOPTION;
SELF-IMPROVEMENT; REUNITED

7. STRENGTHENING PATRIARCHY =
TENSION AND UNIFICATION

8. RESISTANCE TO WHITE SUBJECTION

9. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brock, Ann. 2nd Sunday (Black History Celebration). Digital image. The Old Black Church. Blogspot.
10 Feb. 2008. Web. 3 Jan. 2012.
Delano; Library of Congress, Jack. Leaving the South. Digital image. Black History Museum. Web. 3
Jan. 2012.
Eric Foner, “The Meaning of Freedom,” Allen F. Davis, Harold D. Woodmen, eds. Conflict and
Consensus in American History, Volume 2, 9th ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company,
1997, pp. 207-220.
Five Generations of an African-American Family, 1862. Digital image. America's Reconstruction.
Library of Congress, 2011. Web. 3 Jan. 2012.
McCurdy, Alvin D. Unidentified Woman in Formal Dress [ca. 1870s]. Digital image. Archives of
Ontario. 2009. Web. 3 Jan. 2012.
Nast. Emancipation of Negroes, The Future. Digital image. American Experience: Reconstruction: The
Second Civil War. KETC 9 PBS, 19 Dec. 2003. Web. 3 Jan. 2012.
Williams, Heather Andrea. “How Slavery Affected African American Families.” Freedom’s Story,
TeacherServe©. National Humanities Center. 3 January 2012.