Notes from a Colored Girl - The Civil War Pocket Diaries of Emilie Frances Davis

Karsonya Wise Whitehead

Publisher: University of South Carolina Press

Summary

This historical biography provides a scholarly analysis of the personal diaries of a young, freeborn mulatto woman during the Civil War years. 
 
In Notes from a Colored Girl, Karsonya Wise Whitehead examines the life and experiences of Emilie Frances Davis through a close reading of three pocket diaries she kept from 1863 to 1865. Whitehead explores Davis’s worldviews and politics, her perceptions of both public and private events, her personal relationships, and her place in Philadelphia’s free black community in the nineteenth century. The book also includes a six-chapter historical reconstruction of Davis’s life. 
 
While Davis’s entries provide brief, daily snapshots of her life, Whitehead interprets them in ways that illuminate nineteenth-century black American women’s experiences. Whitehead’s contribution of edited text and original narrative fills a void in scholarly documentation of women who dwelled in spaces between white elites, black entrepreneurs, and urban dwellers of every race and class. 
 
Drawing on scholarly traditions from history, literature, feminist studies, and sociolinguistics, Whitehead investigates Davis’s diary both as a complete literary artifact and in terms of her specific daily entries. With few primary sources written by black women during this time in history, Davis’s diary is a rare and extraordinarily valuable historical artifact.

Available since: 05/14/2014.

Print length: 277 pages.

Other books that might interest you

Katha - Short Stories by Indian...

Urvashi Butalia

Women's stories in India have been handed down from generation to generation, enriched and embroidered along the way. Political change and the arrival of print culture meant that storytelling was pushed into the background. But in more recent times, these voices have once again come centre-stage - confident, varied and complex. Spanning half a century, this collection covers many languages and cultures, and reflects the vast and complex cultures of the country and its diaspora. It offers a view of the changes that have taken place, both in terms of the subjects women choose to write about and their preferred way of writing about these subjects. From established names such as Mahashveta Devi to the newer generation of young authors, such as Tishani Doshi, Katha brings to the reader a vivid array of voices.

Show book

Wilfrid Israel - German Jewry's...

Naomi Shepherd

Wilfrid Israel was a most unlikely hero. Heir to a Jewish business dynasty in Berlin, he was a contemporary of Einstein and Spender in the cosmopolitan circles of Weimar Berlin, and emerged from his world of privilege to become German Jewry's chief (and often anonymous) emissary to the outside world and one of the great unsung heroes of the Holocaust. In the dark days of the 1930s, the ever tightening persecution of German Jews made the diffident Wilfrid Israel assume a major role in their escape. Using his British passport and high connections, he lobbied British diplomats and politicians with plans for Jewish support and rescue. At home he faced down stormtroopers and the Gestapo, enabled the emigration of the Jewish employees of his firm, and ransomed thousands of Jewish and anti-Nazi prisoners from the concentration camps.

When the Nazis finally requisitioned the Israel firm, and the Jewish leadership disintegrated, he ran the Jewish emigration office which enabled thousands to find refuge abroad, partly by his connection with the head of British intelligence in Berlin. After the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938, through the Council for German Jewry in London, and with the help of his Quaker friends and German Jewish women's organisations, he set in motion the famous Kindertransport. This was the admission to Britain without formalities of nearly ten thousand unaccompanied Jewish children. Leaving Germany days before the outbreak of the war, he lobbied on behalf of German Jews interned as enemy aliens. In 1942 he was recruited by the British Foreign Office to put his extensive knowledge of German politics and economics at the disposal of the government – also his expertise in rescue to its Refugee Department.

Wilfrid Israel was one of the first to warn of the Nazis' plans to exterminate the Jews of Europe and the dimensions of the Holocaust. His final mission, to distribute certificates of admission to Palestine among the Jews of Spain and Portugal, ended when the plane in which he was returning to England was shot down by the Luftwaffe.

This biography, first published in 1984 and now revised with a new foreword, restores Wilfrid Israel to his rightful place in the history of the Holocaust. It also brings into new focus the disturbing indifference of Allied leaders to the plight of the Jews, early arguments over the emerging Palestinian homeland, and questions still unresolved today about the politics of rescue and the practicality of humanist ideals.

Show book

When I Last Saw Me - The Memoir...

Lisa Jennett

Everyone thinks about running away from home sometime. Most people don't venture that when they are 51. Sammi did. When the world got too small and being part of it got too unbearable she ran. Mostly west. On the way she bumped into her past and found some reconcile with her present. Filled with memories common to us all, too familiar demons, the longing, the searching, the betrayal and brokenness-the beauty of it all.

Show book

Flâneuse - Women Walk the City...

Lauren Elkin

The flâneur is the quintessentially masculine figure of privilege and leisure who strides the capitals of the world with abandon. But it is the flâneuse who captures the imagination of the cultural critic Lauren Elkin. In her wonderfully gender-bending new book, the flâneuse is a "determined, resourceful individual keenly attuned to the creative potential of the city and the liberating possibilities of a good walk." Virginia Woolf called it "street haunting"; Holly Golightly epitomized it in Breakfast at Tiffany's; and Patti Smith did it in her own inimitable style in 1970s New York. 
 
 
 
Part cultural meander, part memoir, Flâneuse takes us on a distinctly cosmopolitan jaunt that begins in New York, where Elkin grew up, and transports us to Paris via Venice, Tokyo, and London, all cities in which she's lived. We are shown the paths beaten by such flâneuses as the cross-dressing nineteenth-century novelist George Sand, the Parisian artist Sophie Calle, the wartime correspondent Martha Gellhorn, and the writer Jean Rhys. With tenacity and insight, Elkin creates a mosaic of what urban settings have meant to women, charting through literature, art, history, and film the sometimes exhilarating, sometimes fraught relationship that women have with the metropolis.

Show book

Under His Wings: Unveiling...

Gideon Sable

Under His Wings: Unveiling Faith’s Shield for Soldiers  
⭐⭐ Simplified Guide & Explanations Included ⭐⭐   
Are you eager to advance in your journey and deepen your understanding by overcoming life’s toughest challenges with faith?   
In search of a thorough guide that equips you with the essential tools to find strength and hope during tough battles?   
Your quest ends here!   
This guide is your ultimate companion for enhancing your insight, applying your skills, and engaging in practical exercises. With this, you're poised for success.   
Updated for the challenges of 2024-2025.   
Key features of this enriched guide:  
- Profound insights about navigating the challenges of life’s greatest battles   
- Detailed explanations of faith and resilience   
- Effective strategies for preparation and overcoming obstacles   
Our guide stands out through its comprehensive approach, crucial for finding victory in your struggles. Concepts are explored in depth rather than merely touched upon.   
Please note this guide is an independent resource and is not affiliated with any official entities.   
Crafted with a clear structure and easy-to-understand language, our guide ensures smooth transitions between topics. Say goodbye to complex jargon and welcome clear, concise, and accurate content.   
So, why wait? Click the BUY NOW button, secure your guide, and embark on your journey to resilience and hope for 2024-2025!

Show book

Leni Riefenstahl - A Life

Jürgen Trimborn

Dancer, actress, mountaineer, and director Leni Riefenstahl's uncompromising will and audacious talent for self-promotion appeared unmatched—until 1932, when she introduced herself to her future protector and patron: Adolf Hitler. Known internationally for two of the films she made for him, Triumph of the Will and Olympia, Riefenstahl's demanding and obsessive style introduced unusual angles, new approaches to tracking shots, and highly symbolic montages. Despite her lifelong claim to be an apolitical artist, Riefenstahl's monumental and nationalistic vision of Germany's traditions and landscape served to idealize the cause of one of the world's most violent and racist regimes.Riefenstahl ardently cast herself as a passionate young director who caved to the pressure to serve an all-powerful Führer, so focused on reinventing the cinema that she didn't recognize the goals of the Third Reich until too late. Jürgen Trimborn's revelatory biography celebrates this charismatic and adventurous woman who lived to 101, while also taking on the myths surrounding her. With refreshing distance and detailed research, Trimborn presents the story of a stubborn and intimidating filmmaker who refused to be held accountable for her role in the Holocaust but continued to inspire countless photographers and filmmakers with her artistry.

Show book