Episode description

It's January 4th. This day, in 1863, Abraham Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved Americans in the South. It also freed up Black soldiers to fight for the Union army -- but many of them found conditions in the military restrictive and oppressive as well.

Jody, Niki, and Kellie are joined by Jonathan Lande of Purdue University to discuss what life was like for Black soldiers -- and why many of them chose to escape from the army as well.

Jonathan's latest book is called "Freedom Soldiers" -- it's available now!

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia