'Til Death or Distance Do Us Part: Love and Marriage in African America (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780195328523)

Conventional wisdom tells us that marriage was illegal for African Americans during the antebellum era, and that if people married at all, their vows were tenuous ones: "until death or distance do us part." It is an impression that imbues beliefs about black families to this day. But it's a perception primarily based on documents produced by abolitionists, the state, or other partisans. It doesn't tell the whole story.

Drawing on a trove of less well-known sources including family histories, folk stories, memoirs, sermons, and especially the fascinating writings from the Afro-Protestant Press, 'Til Death or Distance Do Us Part offers a radically different perspective on antebellum love and family life.

Frances Smith Foster applies the knowledge she's developed over a lifetime of reading and thinking. Advocating both the potency of skepticism and the importance of story-telling, her book shows the way toward a more genuine, more affirmative understanding of African American romance, both then and now.

Author: Frances Smith Foster
ISBN-10: 0195328523
ISBN-13: 9780195328523
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 01/12/2010
Pages: 224
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.80w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 11/30/2009 pg. 38
Choice 12/01/2010