I Can't Wait to Call You My Wife
African American Letters of Love and Family in the Civil War Era

Against the backdrop of bloody battles and political maneuvering, thousands of
African Americans spent the Civil War trying to hold their families together.
Whether enslaved or free, they strove not only to survive but also to cultivate
bonds of family, friendship, and community. This moving book illuminates that
struggle through the letters exchanged by African Americans before, during, and
just after the war. Despite harsh laws against literacy and brutal practices that
broke apart black families, people found ways to write to each other against all
odds. Their letters reveal humanity’s ability to endure extraordinary hardship.
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. The stories in these pages
challenge the notion of a monolithic black experience during the Civil War era.
Thanks to Roberts’ expert curation, readers may follow the fates of individuals
and families while seeing the wider historical context. This book honors longignored voices and invites readers to engage viscerally and personally with the
black historical experience.