Saturday, November 8, 2014

November 1, 1864---The Emilie Davis Diaries


NOVEMBER 1, 1864:      

The new Constitution of Maryland comes into effect, ending slavery in the State. African-Americans throughout the North (and restored South) rejoice. Emile Davis, a black woman living in Philadelphia, writes in her diary:
 
to day is a holliaday with most everyone the Colored soldiers are in and everything seemes cherful i went to meeting quite a nice little meeting after meeting we went   to see the [indecipherable] at head quarters I have had no letter from nell this week she is [indecipherable] in a hury to answer my letters

Emilie, who was a domestic, kept three small pocket diaries, covering the years 1863, 1864, and 1865. They are an invaluable source as to what an “average” African-American in the North was experiencing during the Civil War. Due to Emilie’s use of different writing implements and her idiosyncratic spelling some of the text is unreadable.


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