African-American widows’s pension claims were for many their first interaction with the federal government as full citizens after the Civil War (1861-1865). These women were often the sole breadwinners in their families after their veteran husbands passed. The widows petitioned the state with the support of a “grassroots pension network” of social ties and associational life in black neighborhoods. The network includes black professional men who were socially responsible leaders and served as claims agents alongside white attorneys in Washington, D.C. The grassroots pension network also included neighbors, veterans, acquaintances, family relations, and religious leaders who testified on behalf of widows in letters, affidavits and depositions.
This project-prototype collects data from all digitally available petitions (via the National Archives) from widows of veterans of the U.S.C.T. regiments to create graphs and networks that highlights trends and patterns in the petition process as the widows navigated them. The main dataset comprises of 173 petitions from widows. The data collection process is ongoing. The data collection process is ongoing. Featured at this stage of the project are 59 petitions from widows of 2nd regiment veterans forming the first network. The second network comprises of 42 petitions from widows of 33rd regiment veterans.
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Interactive Network of 2nd Regiment
Interactive Network of 33rd Regiment
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Lead Investigator: Halima Haruna (haruna.h@northeastern.edu)
Instructors: Julia Flanders & Sarah Connell
Course Information: NULab Project Seminar (Fall 2024 - Spring 2025) for Digital Humanities Certificate
Institution: Northeastern University