A study of how loyalty became key to understanding Reconstruction Mississippi.

What is it about?

The chapter argues that in the wake of the Civil War, ideas about loyalty became crucial to both white and black claims of both citizenship and property in Reconstruction Mississippi.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

The chapter connects citizenship and loyalty together, to better understand how these ideas were used as tools and as weapons in the Reconstruction period. As the chapter makes clear, the stakes were high, as control over property became crucial to a postwar political order in Mississippi and all over the postwar American South.