When Emancipation Came

Linked by declarations of emancipation within the same five-year period, two countries shared human rights issues on two distinct continents. In this book, readers will find a case-study comparison of the emancipation of Russian serfs on the Yazykovo Selo estate and American slaves at the Palmyra Plantation. Although state policies and reactions may not follow the same paths in each area, there were striking thematic parallels. These findings add to our understanding of what happens throughout an emancipation process in which the state grants freedom, and therefore speaks to the universality of the human experience. Despite the political and economic differences between the two countries, as well as their geographic and cultural distances, this book re-conceptualizes emancipation and its aftermath in each country: from a history that treats each as a separate, self-contained story to one with a unified, global framework.

Sally Stocksdale is an instructor of history at Towson University, Towson, Maryland. She has taught history and political science at the college level for 30 years. She also specializes in the history of Simbirsk Province, Russia.

Sally Stocksdale
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 260
Bibliographic Info: 25 photos, 4 maps, glossary, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2022
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8198-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4632-9
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments ix
Maps xi
Notes on the Text xv
Preface 1
Introduction 11

Part I: The Pre-Treatment Period
1. Rural Muses, Unfree People, and the Abolitionist Impulse 21
2. Emancipation Comes to Russia and America 39

Part II: Planting and Plowing
3. Liberation: Conditions, Expectations, and Resistance 55
4. Regulating Freedom: Contracts and Agreements 74

Part III: Tending and Reaping Freedom
5. Understanding Contextual Realities: Background to the Post-Emancipation Story at Yazykovo Selo and Palmyra Plantation 96
6. Reaping Freedom: Management, Labor, and Productivity in the Midst of Liberation 115

Part IV: Gleaning and Taking Stock
7. The Meaning of Freedom in Daily Life 151
8. The Meaning of Freedom in a Global Context 174

Epilogue 179
Glossary 183
Chapter Notes 185
Bibliography 223
Index 241