Bennett Parten, a Royston native and assistant professor of history at Georgia Southern University, has done the research and concluded that Georgia was the site of the biggest liberation event in American history.
That event would be Sherman’s March to the Sea, the military campaign led by Union Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman to weaken the Confederacy toward the end of the Civil War. Parten backs up his claim in his new book, “Somewhere Toward Freedom: Sherman’s March and the Story of America’s Largest Emancipation” (Simon & Schuster, $29.99).
While Sherman’s March is typically presented in history books as a military campaign, Parten’s interest lies in its role as a march to freedom. After all, that winter of 1864, when 60,000 Union soldiers trudged 250 miles from Atlanta to Savannah, ransacking abandoned plantations and businesses along the way, they were joined by 20,000 emancipated slaves.
Some took positions up front, serving alongside Union soldiers, but most followed behind. And although the march was difficult and dangerous, especially for former slaves who had little in the way of food, shelter or protection from the cold weather, there was a sense of jubilation because it was “as if slavery had suddenly vanished into air.”
In addition to bringing a fresh perspective to Sherman’s March, “Somewhere Toward Freedom” examines how it ― along with the Port Royal Experiment that preceded it ― laid the groundwork for the Reconstruction Era.
Once they reached the sea, federal troops facilitated attempts to settle emancipated slaves ― or refugees, as Parten refers to them ― on seized plantations along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. There they were fed, housed and paid for their labor. Educators were brought in and schools established.
It was a time of great hope, but it was sadly short-lived. By spring, when the troops withdrew, programs were abandoned, land was reclaimed and the emancipated were left to their own devices in a hostile environment with no resources.
In the end, the March to the Sea gave former slaves a hint of what freedom could look like, but it failed to sustain it, rendering the endeavor “a missed opportunity,” writes Parten.
“Somewhere Toward Freedom” started out as a Ph.D. dissertation, and while it’s deeply researched and annotated, it’s a highly accessible and engaging ― albeit at times disturbing ― read that casts new light on a familiar subject.
Parten will be in conversation at the Atlanta History Center with Claire Haley, vice president of special projects, on Feb. 12. For details, go to atlantahistorycenter.com.
For more Black History Month-related reading, here are three new and upcoming titles about race and education to check out:
Credit: Atria
Credit: Atria
“Spell Freedom.” Journalist Elaine Weiss tells the inspiring story of four educators and activists led by Septima Clark who started an underground school in 1954 in Tennessee designed to prepare Black residents to pass the Jim Crow era voter registration literacy tests. By 1965, when the Voting Rights Act passed, they had established more than 900 schools across the South. (One Signal Publishers/Atria, $29.99)
Credit: Basic Books
Credit: Basic Books
“Making Sense of Slavery.” In an era when the debate over how race relations should be taught in public schools has become a political volleyball, the timing couldn’t be better for historian Scott Spillman’s sweeping analysis of how slavery has been studied and taught over time, from the American Revolution to The 1619 Project. (Basic Books, $35)
Credit: Yale University Press
Credit: Yale University Press
“Dangerous Learning.” Subtitled “The South’s Long War on Black Literacy,” this 19th-century historical survey by Derek W. Black, director of the South Carolina Law School’s Constitution Law Center, explores the trials enslaved people endured in their quest for an education and the lengths slaveholders would go to prevent it. (Yale University Press, $35)
Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She may be reached at Suzanne.VanAtten@ajc.com.
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