"To find shelter she knows not where" : freedom, movement, and gendered violence among free people of color in Natchez, Mississippi, 1779-1865

This thesis explicates how freedom, movement, and violence were inextricably linked for free people of color in Natchez, Mississippi from 1779-1865. It considers the relevance that violence or the implicit threat of it--in the form of sexual exploitation, re-enslavement, kidnapping, deportment, poverty, and racial discrimination--exerted on this population. This work centers itself within the field of violence studies.