Product Description

During Louisiana's Spanish colonial period, economic, political, and military conditions combined with local cultural and legal traditions to favour the growth and development of a substantial group of free blacks. In "Bounded Lives, Bounded Places", Kimberly S. Hanger explores the origin of antebellum New Orleans' large, influential, and propertied free black - or libre - population, one that was unique in the South. Hanger examines the issues libres confronted as they individually and collectively contested their ambiguous status in a complexly stratified society. Drawing on rare archives in Louisiana and Spain, Hanger reconstructs the world of late-eighteenth-century New Orleans from the perspective of its free black residents, and documents the common experiences and enterprises that helped solidify libres' sense of group identity. Over the course of three and a half decades of Spanish rule, free people of African descent in New Orleans made their greatest advances in terms of legal rights and privileges, demographic expansion, vocational responsibilities, and social standing. Although, not all blacks in Spanish New Orleans yearned for expanded opportunity, Hanger shows that those who did were more likely to succeed under Spain's dominion than under the governance of France, Great Britain, or the United States. The advent of U.S. rule brought restrictions to both manumission and free black activities in New Orleans. Nonetheless, the colonial libre population became the foundation for the city's prosperous and much acclaimed Creoles of Colour during the antebellum era. For its insights into questions of slavery and social identity, "Bounded Lives, Bounded Places" will be welcomed by scholars in the fields of Latin American history, African American studies, and southern history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1134742 in Books
• Published on: 1997-03
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

Review
"No one has done more to explain the origins of Lousiana's free people of color than Kimberly Hanger. Hanger's mastery of both the literature of free blacks in the New World and her deep understanding of the development of colonial Louisiana enables her to place Louisiana's free people of color in hemisphere perspective, while exposing the fine-grained texture of their daily lives. Bounded Lives, Bounded Places is the best study of free people of color in Spanish Louisiana." - Ira Berlin, University of Maryland "Bounded Lives, Bounded Places is an original contribution to the study of colonial LouisianaNan important, but neglected field of study. Hanger focuses upon both ethnic and women's history, and makes a contribution to comparative history." - Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Professor of History, Emerita, Rutgers University

Ira Berlin, University of Maryland
No one has done more to explain the origins of Lousiana's free people of color than Kimberly Hanger. Hanger's mastery of both the literature of free blacks in the New World and her deep understanding of the development of colonial Louisiana enables her to place Louisiana's free people of color in hemisphere perspective, while exposing the fine-grained texture of their daily lives. Bounded Lives, Bounded Places is the best study of free people of color in Spanish Louisiana.

From the Publisher
Other reviews of Bounded Lives, Bounded Places:

"Kimberly S. Hanger's Bounded Lives, Bounded Places is a multidimensional study of libres ('free blacks') in New Orleans during three-and-a-half decades of Spanish rule. . . . Hanger's study goes far beyond explaining the origins of New Orleans' Creoles of Color. Bounded Lives, Bounded Places builds upon and amplifies studies of other marginalized groups, both in the past and in the present, strengthening our faith in human ingenuity and persistence and our hopes for a better future for all."(Colonial Latin American Historical Review)

"Kimberly S. Hanger's book is a useful contribution to our knowledge of early Louisiana and free blacks in North America, based on intensive study of a large number of documents."(The Journal of Southern History)

"Kimberly Hanger's Bounded Lives, Bounded Places paints a detailed and in-depth portrait of New Orleans' free black society in the late eighteenth century."(Colonial Latin American Review)

"Kimberly Hanger has launched a new generation of studies on this class, in her sensitive and well-written Bounded Lives, Bounded Places. The work is notable for its skillful blend of legal, political, economic, cultural, and social history. . . . This work sets a high standard for social histories of free black or other minority classes in the population. It will be the definitive work on free blacks in Spanish Louisiana for a long time."(Plantation Society)

"[A] well-written and researched work on the free blacks (libres) of colonial Spanish New Orleans. [A] convincing portrait of the complex and ambiguous world free blacks occupied in New Orleans. In addition, the author's familiarity with the historical literature of Latin America allows her to place Louisiana libre society in context by offering insightful comparisons with other similar groups located throughout the Americas, something that historians of colonial British North America rarely do. . . . [A] necessary starting place for future scholarly studies."(Florida Historical Quarterly)

"Bounded Lives, Bounded Places beautifully recaptures the world of the libres of early New Orleans and marks the emergence of a major scholar of early America. . . . Hanger's well-written monograph, both for its research and its contribution to the historiography of the lower Mississippi Valley, should serve as a resource for historians of early America. No 'slaves without masters,' the eighteenth-century libres represent a vibrant aspect of colonial American culture rarely glimpsed by historians. The author's innovative research into the official government and church records of the period provides a model for future students of early America even as her depiction of free black culture enriches their understanding of this hitherto elusive community."(North Carolina Historical Review)

"[An] impressive . . . [and] important study [that] substantially advances historical scholarship."(Georgia Historical Quarterly)

"Bounded Lives, Bounded Places confirms Hanger's reputation as an authority on New Orleans' libres. . . [She] fills an important lacuna in the history of free blacks in North America . . . . Hanger's work not only makes a major contribution to the region's colonial history, but also offers directions for further study. . ."(Slavery and Abolition)