Online Archive of University of Virginia Scholarship
"Eager to Be as Near as Possible to the Seat of Justice": Freedpeople, Law, and the Freedmen's Bureau Court in Reconstruction Richmond"28 views
Author
Marshall-Pinko, Eitan, History - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia
Advisors
Hill Edwards, Justene, AS-History (HIST), University of Virginia
Varon, Elizabeth, AS-History (HIST), University of Virginia
Janney, Caroline, AS-History (HIST), University of Virginia
Abstract
This thesis examines the jurisdictional landscape of early Reconstruction Richmond, with a particular focus on the relationships between freedpeople and the Provost Marshal's Court, the Mayor's Court, and the Freedmen's Bureau Court. In addition to parsing out the complex interworkings of these courts, the author argues that for freedpeople encountering the realm of criminal justice, the Provost's Marshal's Court meted out the harshest of punishments. Additionally, in this pre-Radical Reconstruction era, these three courts regularly competed for authority in individual cases. Andrew Johnson's ever-changing stance on the proper role of the federal government in reconstructing states, coupled with ambiguous legal orders from military command, led to a proliferation of idiosyncratic, and oftentimes, harsh sentences for freedpeople. This thesis will contribute to the author's future dissertation and to the growing body of literature examining the legal histories of Black folks during Reconstruction.
Degree
MA (Master of Arts)
Rights
All rights reserved by the author (no additional license for public reuse)
Marshall-Pinko, Eitan. "Eager to Be as Near as Possible to the Seat of Justice": Freedpeople, Law, and the Freedmen's Bureau Court in Reconstruction Richmond". University of Virginia, History - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, MA (Master of Arts), 2026-09-21, https://doi.org/10.18130/amk5-b607.
