By the end of the Civil War, nearly half a million slaves (12-15% of the Confederacy’s enslaved population) had taken refuge behind Union lines in what became known as “contraband camps.” Camps were ubiquitous in the landscape of the occupied South, yet remain largely absent from the landscape of public memory. What were they? And how can we change that?

Chandra Manning, 2020 recipient of the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, is Professor of History at Georgetown University and author most recently of Troubled Refuge: Struggling for Freedom in the Civil War.