"I Can't Wait to Call You My Wife" | Chronicle Books
FREE SHIPPING FOR PURCHASES MORE THAN $40
Skip to content

I Can't Wait to Call You My Wife

African American Letters of Love and Family in the Civil War Era
$35.00 Regular price
Unit price
per 
Rita Roberts
This book honors the voices of African Americans of the Civil War era through their letters, inviting readers to engage personally with the Black historical experience.  Amidst bloody battles and political maneuvering, thousands of Afric...
Full Description
DESCRIPTION
DETAILS
AUTHOR BIO
REVIEWS

This book honors the voices of African Americans of the Civil War era through their letters, inviting readers to engage personally with the Black historical experience. 

Amidst bloody battles and political maneuvering, thousands of African Americans spent the Civil War trying to hold their families together. This moving book illuminates that struggle through the letters they exchanged. Despite harsh laws against literacy and brutal practices that broke apart Black families, people found ways to write to each other against all odds. In these pages, readers will meet parents who are losing hope of ever seeing their children again and a husband who walks fifteen miles to visit his wife, enslaved on a different plantation.

The collection also includes tender courtship letters exchanged between Lewis Henry Douglass and Helen Amelia Loguen, both children of noted abolitionists, and letters sent home by the young women who traveled south to teach literacy to escaped slaves. Roberts' expert curation allows readers to see the wider historical context. The transcriptions are accompanied by reproductions of selected original letters and photographs of the letter writers.

FRESH ANGLE ON HISTORY: Roberts reframes the Civil War era by telling the story of American slavery through letters. And by focusing on the strong bonds of love that these letters represent, she offers a deeply human and relatable version of history.

AUTHORITATIVE YET ACCESSIBLE: Throughout the book, Roberts provides expert context while weaving compelling stories about the individual letter writers. Readers can connect with history directly by reading actual words from the time and seeing photographs of both the letters and the writers.

NUANCED PERSPECTIVE: As Americans wake up to the complex legacy of race in this country, Roberts' book challenges a notion of a monolithic Black experience during the Civil War.

BEAUTIFUL BOOK: This handsome hardcover provides an elegant presentation, complete with images throughout. While intense and often tragic, the stories carry inspiration for how to live and love through incredibly difficult times. This will make a truly meaningful addition to any book collection. 

Perfect for:

  • Readers of Black history, Civil War history, and American history
  • History students
  • Letter writers
  • Fans of historical letters
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 296
Size: 8 X 10 V
Age Range: Chronicle Books
Publication Date: 10/18/2022
ISBN: 9781797213729
10/18/2022

"Illuminating...expertly curated and contextualized, these letters simmer with palpable longing and fierce determination. Readers will be riveted." —Publishers Weekly

"In this stirring curatorial achievement, a scholar compiles letters exchanged among African Americans as the Civil War blasted away the scaffolding of bondage, hinting at an uncertain future." — Oprah Daily

Availability