Rehearsal for Reconstruction: The Port Royal Experiment

by Willie Lee Rose

Book Overview

This award-winning study presents an engaging account of the attempt at reconstruction that occurred in the Sea Islands of South Carolina during the beginning of the Civil War. Serving as a kind of dress rehearsal for Reconstruction, the Port Royal Experiment not only helped to shape federal policy for Reconstruction, but it also influenced the nation by adding to the initial war aim of the Union, the eventual commitment to freedom, and the still-unfulfilled...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195198824
• ISBN13: 9780195198829
• Release Date: September 1976
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.0" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Historial Information Worth Knowing

Standing from an academic point of view Rehearsal for Reconstruction (RfR) is undoubtedly useful for information pretaining to Reconstruction. RfR illustrates the problems that were set forth during reconstruction, but limits and expands them to a setting of the Port Royal Experiment (PRE). Themes that arise in the book are those of Southern social changes in labor (move from slavery to free labor), economics (decline therein), and politics (freedmen's move into the political atmosphere). It illustrates how northern attitudes change during the shadowy and turbulent era and also how Nothern Freedmen associations and/or missonaries came to the south to help with the project. Also, Rose will show how the racial attitudes, race relations, and social class structure were affected by the Civil War and Reconstruction. And finally, RfR will develop your knowledge on land distriburtion and land disputes among the planters and the freedmen. Rose takes you through stories that depict just how life was in the Port Royal experiment. Although you do not need to have a degree in history or need to have a previous understanding of the topic at hand, Rose will show how things were in a revissionist style. I would highly recomend this book on two accounts; 1.) if you are interested in the topic of Reconstruction or even the American Civil War for that part, this would be a good book to read for pleasure. 2.) This book is very useful for academic research. Although you will be directed to the topic of the PRE, you will still be capible of extracting meaningful and useful information that will assist you in your studies.

Beautiful Reference Book

I won this book in a contest in my youth for a mock trial competition. I never realized that it would be so useful to me as a reference all throughout my college years, into law school and beyond.It's a beautiful book, and it inspires you with the majesty of what used to be our law and the landmark cases that used to be made in less timid times.

Fills a serious gap between pre- and post-slavery history

This is perhaps the only book that describes how suddenly-emancipated negroes responded to their new freedom before they were forced back into non-slave servitude under Jim Crow.