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Theses: how were the African Americans treated differently than white Americans?Indeed, black women applying for pensions for which they were eligible because of marriage to a veteran faced even greater problems. Before and during the war, no slave could legally marry, although many had long, stable relationships that were recognized by their communities, including their owners. As a result, many black women encountered difficulties in proving that they were legally entitled to a dead veteran's pension. Legislation passed in July 1864 entitled the widows and children of deceased black soldiers to pensions ``without other proof of marriage than that the parties had habitually recognized each other as man and wife" and had lived as such for two years before the soldier's death,85if they provided affidavits from credible witnesses.86 Although this act applied only to free women and children, subsequent acts expended the entitlement to women and children who had been slaves.

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