Alice L. Baumgartner - South to Freedom: Runaway Slaves to Mexico and the Road to the Civil War

South to Freedom reorders the way we should think and teach about the slavery expansion crisis in the middle of the nineteenth century. Indeed, it reorders how to think about the huge question of the coming of the American Civil War. Not many books these days can make that claim. With astonishing research and graceful writing, this one can.

D AVID W. B LIGHT , Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

Taken for granted, borders between two nations have the power to constrain curiosity and limit the self-understanding of both nations. But when the research of a gifted historian defies a border, as Alice L. Baumgartners South to Freedom demonstrates, the result is the revelation of a story of great consequence. When Texas slaves seized the opportunities presented by Mexicos precedent-setting initiatives in emancipation, the actions of a comparatively small group of people shaped a historical event of enormous scale: the American Civil War.

P ATRICIA N ELSON L IMERICK , author of The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West

Enslaved freedom-seekers in the antebellum United States looked not only to the North Star, but also to the southern border with Mexico. In a fast-paced narrative that moves deftly between the histories of both countries, Alice L. Baumgartner demonstrates the far-reaching impact of Mexicos free-soil policies. She shows, with eloquence and insight, how enslaved people themselves ignited the fuse that led to a civil warand the final abolition of slavery on the North American continent.

W. C ALEB M C D ANIEL , Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America

In this deeply researched and pathbreaking study of southern slaves who escaped to Mexico and carved out new lives in the decades prior to the Civil War, Alice L. Baumgartner has succeeded in explaining a mystery that historians had been unable to unravel. How many slaves ran South to freedom, rather than North, and how did their assertiveness influence the coming of the Civil War? Baumgartner explores not only the familiar sectional controversy that led the southern states to secede from the union, but more importantly, South to Freedom examines the rich and complicated lives and the multifaceted roles that enslaved people played in Mexico. This book will contribute immensely to our understanding of sectional politics, as well as the manner in which Mexico asserted its moral power to reject an inhumane institution and to assist fugitive slaves in recreating their lives as free men and women.

A LBERT S. B ROUSSARD , author of Black San Francisco: The Struggle for Racial Equality in the West, 190054

Copyright 2020 by Alice L. Baumgartner

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First Edition: December 2020

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Baumgartner, Alice, 1987 author.

Title: South to freedom : runaway slaves to Mexico and the road to the Civil War / Alice L. Baumgartner.

Description: New York : Basic Books, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020011978 | ISBN 9781541617780 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781541617773 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Fugitive slavesMexicoHistory19th century. | Fugitive slavesUnited StatesHistory19th century. | SlaveryMexicoHistory19th century. | SlaveryUnited StatesHistory19th century. | United StatesHistoryCivil War, 18611865Causes.

Classification: LCC HT1053 .B38 2020 | DDC 306.3/62dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020011978

ISBNs: 978-1-5416-1778-0 (hardcover), 978-1-5416-1777-3 (ebook)

E3-20201020-JV-NF-ORI

TO MY TEACHERS

The road would always be open to Mexico.

F REDERICK L AW O LMSTED