Claiming Union Widowhood: Race, Respectability, and Poverty in the Post-Emancipation South
Brandi Clay Brimmer
Duke University Press
Brimmer analyzes the US pension system from the perspective of poor Black women during and after the Civil War. Through a broad range of historical sources, she outlines how the mothers, wives, and widows of Black Union soldiers struggled to claim pensions in the face of evidentiary obstacles and personal scrutiny. An amazing social history that transforms the study of poor Black women's quest for citizenship and recognition.