Surprisingly, there existed a small population of southern blacks who experienced economic gains in the fifty years following the Civil War. This book examines the characteristics of North Carolina's African-American population in order to explain the social and political factors that shaped economic opportunity for this group.

Exploring family and community dynamics, "Enemies of the Country" profiles men and women of the Confederate states who, in addition to the wartime burdens endured by most southerners, had to cope with being a detested minority.

With one exception, these featured individuals were white, but they otherwise represent a wide spectrum of the southern citizenry. They include natives to the region, foreign immigrants and northern transplants, affluent and poor, farmers and merchants, politicians and journalists, slaveholders and nonslaveholders. Some resided in highland areas and in remote...