A Dream Deferred: Reconstructing Families and Policing Black Refugees in Border States during the Civil War

This article foregrounds the experiences of Black families navigating the Union’s military police, the provost marshal system, to seek freedom and preserve familial bonds during the Civil War. Analyzing the testimonies of Black refugees and provost marshal records, the article explores how they navigated the complex landscape of slave states that remained in the Union and confronted military surveillance and the legal contradictions in these states. Refugees demanded the help of provost marshals—the same agents tasked with enforcing pro-Union enslavers’ property rights. Specifically focusing on how Black women and children leveraged their knowledge of military and federal policies to assert their rights offers insights into their political consciousness and what they deemed freedom should look like. Drawing from incarceration, slavery, gender, and childhood studies, this article highlights the entanglement of policing, kinship, and Black resistance.