Slavery, enslaved persons and abolition of slavery Books

Book SynopsisSituates famous and lesser-known eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Haitian revolutionaries, pamphleteers, and political thinkers within the global history of ideas, showing how their systems of knowledge and interpretation took centre stage in the Age of Revolutions.Trade Review[A] magisterial recounting of Haiti's intellectual history . . . . The book is the latest in Daut's constellation of works on the Caribbean intellectual tradition, and Daut is herself one of the most dynamic contemporary voices on Haiti."—Laurent Dubois, Los Angeles Review of Books

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE ATWOOD GIBSON WRITERS' TRUST FICTION PRIZE 2023SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 AMAZON CANADA FIRST NOVEL AWARD COSMOPOLITAN'S 10 BEST HISTORICAL FICTION BOOKS OF 2023'Fresh and propulsive . . . a veneration of those whose tales are often forgotten' New York Times'A mesmerizing, lyrical testament to the power of storytelling' Atwood Gibson Writer's Trust Fiction Prize judgesFreedom, you can't get and bury, and keep it and keep it so it won't ever go away. No, child.You got to swing your freedom like a club.In 1859, deep in the forests of Canada, an elderly woman sits behind bars. She came to Dunmore via the Underground Railroad to escape enslavement, but an American bounty hunter tracked her down. Now she's in jail for killing him, and the fragile peace of Dunmore, a town settled by people fleeing the American south, hangs by a thread. Lensinda Martin, a smart young reporter, wants to gather the woman's testimony before she can be condemned, but the old woman has no time for confessions. Instead she proposes a barter: a story for a story. As the women swap stories - of family and first loves, of survival and freedom against all odds - Lensinda must face her past. And it seems the old woman may carry a secret that could shape Lensinda's destiny. Travelling along the path of the Underground Railroad from the American South to British Canada, from the Indigenous nations around the Great Lakes, to the Black refugee communities of Canada, In the Upper Country is an unforgettable debut about the interwoven history of peoples in North America, slavery and resistance, and two women reckoning with the stories they've been given, and the ones they want to tell. Trade ReviewThe harshly real and the fantastic mingle in ways that recall Ta-Nehisi Coates's The Water Dancer and Esi Edugyan's Washington Black. What's most impressive is Thomas's imaginative power; sure-handed, often lyrical prose; and strong, complex, resilient women. An exceptional work that mines a rich historical vein * Kirkus, starred review *In the Upper Country is not only fiction alive with history; it is historic. This masterful novel is the first to narrate the forging of the Afro-Métis - or Black & Indigenous - people out of European (or Indigenous) enslavement . . . practically every page turns up a sentence or a phrase that could have been penned by Toni Morrison or James Baldwin -- George Elliot Clarke, critically acclaimed poet and novelistA sweeping epic that imagines all the ways our ancestors tried to get free. This is an exciting voice in fiction, as interested in the complexities of land and belonging as in the vagaries of human love and connection -- Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of LibertieTremendous . . . In the Upper Country enlightens and empowers in a way few other literary sagas can, by humanizing people who have long been historical footnotes and bringing their stories to the centre. Kai Thomas is a visionary, an advocate, and overall a groundbreaking storytelling voice who has now contributed a classic to this country's canon. This novel will resonate for generations to come -- Waubgeshig Rice, bestselling author of Moon of the Crusted SnowStories within stories; until I read them, I hadn't realised these are ones I'd long been wanting, needing even. In this remarkable debut, Kai Thomas fills out the picture of a place, a time, peoples and their relationships, all previously neglected in the day-to-day unfolding of the nations. His immensely compelling details, and a host of voices so well-wrought you can see and hear the speakers long after you've finished reading, will leave you eager to see what he'll do next -- Shani Mootoo, author of Polar VortexMesmerizing . . . at once intimate and majestic, Thomas's ambitious work heralds a bright new voice * Publishers Weekly, starred review *The old woman will tell her story, if Lensinda shares one of her own. Thus begins an incredible exchange that reveals an interconnected history of love and survival for the Black and Indigenous peoples of North America. * Book Riot *A Gothic-tinged puzzle box of a novel . . . there's undeniable force to the embedded stories and the historical truths they bring to vivid life * Toronto Star *Groundbreaking . . . This fascinating series of stories within stories reflects the fragmentary history of African and Indigenous people experiencing the effects of enslavement. Engrossing and intensely readable, this book represents just the beginning of a larger narrative, with many chapters yet to be told; very highly recommended * Library Journal *Exceptional . . . Kai Thomas deftly and compassionately braids deeply engrossing stories within stories that explore a little-known aspect of Canadian history. In the Upper Country is a mesmerizing, lyrical testament to the power of storytelling, as this is among the protagonists' tools for survival in a harsh reality rife with violence and dehumanization. -- 2023 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize Jury (francescaekwuyasi, Alix Hawley, MG Vassanji)

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Book SynopsisTHE UNTOLD STORY OF THE BERBICE SLAVE REBELLION Winner of the 2021 Cundill History Prize Winner of the 2021 Frederick Douglass Prize 'A gripping tale about the human need for freedom ... spellbinding' NPR 'Impressively detailed ... Kars provokes the reader into seeing the many sides involved in this bloody and desperate struggle with empathy and pity ... excellent' Paterson Joseph, actor and author of The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho 'A masterpiece ... a story for the ages' Elizabeth Fenn, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Encounters at the Heart of the World In February 1763, thousands of slaves in the Dutch colony of Berbice - in present-day Guyana - launched a massive rebellion - and very nearly succeeded. For an entire year, they fought their enslavers, dreaming of establishing a free state, what would have been the first Black republic. Instead, they vanished from history. Blood on the River is the explosive story of this forgotten revolution, an event that almost changed the face of the Americas. Historian Marjoleine Kars draws on long-buried Dutch interrogation transcripts to reconstruct a rich day-by-day account of this extraordinary event, providing a rare look at the political vision of enslaved people at the dawn of the Age of Revolution. An astonishing original work of history, Blood on the River will change our understanding of revolutions, slavery and the story of freedom in the New World.Trade ReviewA riveting addition to the history of the search for freedom in the Americas * Kirkus Reviews *A richly detailed account of a gripping human story -- H.W. Brands * Washington Post *[An] epic history ... A sweeping, thoughtful narrative, joining a new wave of books that make visible previously dismissed Black voices -- Carolyn Kellogg * Los Angeles Times *A gripping tale about the human need for freedom ... The story of the Berbice Rebellion begs to be told, and Kars' telling is impressive -- Martha Anne Toll * NPR Books *A model for how academic history can reach a wide audience, a narrative-driven work which presents pioneering archival scholarship in which we can hear the voices of the enslaved protagonists ... Kars represents the complexities of the rebellion without romanticising it -- Bethan Fisk * History Today *Brilliant ... 900 testimonies give unparalleled access to the complex dynamics of resistance and the voices of the enslaved ... A tour de force -- Catherine Hall FBA FRHS, Emerita Professor of History at UCL and Chair of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British SlaveryAn impressively detailed account of one of the earliest resistance battles against the horrors of slavery. Kars provokes the reader into seeing the many sides involved in this bloody and desperate struggle with empathy and pity. There's a sense of the futility of the fight against the Dutch and European Empires, but somehow she manages to convey hope and a degree of heroism on the side of those fighting for their freedom ... excellent -- Paterson Joseph, actor and author of The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius SanchoA powerful book that will appeal to experts and - thanks to the lively and accessible writing style - the general public alike * Black Perspectives *This striking study unearths a meaningful chapter in the history of slavery * Publishers Weekly *Meticulously researched and careful to prioritize the perspectives of the marginalized, Blood on the River offers a fascinating glimpse of the complex history of slavery in the Americas * Booklist *A must-read for anyone interested in slave revolts and the history of Atlantic slavery * Library Journal *[A] masterpiece ... Marjoleine Kars has unearthed a little-known rebellion in the Dutch colony of Berbice and rendered its story with insight, empathy, and wisdom. You'll find no easy platitudes herein. Instead, you'll find human beings in full relief, acting with courage, kindness, calculation, and mendacity in their quest for self-determination. Blood on the River is a story for the ages -- Elizabeth Fenn, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan PeopleTakes readers on a moving journey deep into a colonial heart of darkness. Drawing on rich and challenging sources, Marjoleine Kars reveals enslaved people making a rebellion that lingers in memory and landscape -- Alan Taylor, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Internal Enemy and William Cooper's TownThis is required reading for historians of the Black Atlantic world -- Jennifer Morgan, professor of history at New York University and author of Reckoning with SlaveryOne of the great slave revolts in modern history has at last found a gifted historian to tell its epic tale. Using a breathtaking archival discovery to make the Berbice rebels vivid flesh-and-blood actors, Marjoleine Kars deeply enriches the global scholarship on the history of slavery and resistance -- Marcus Rediker, author of The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and FreedomVivid ... The aborted attempt at freedom she chronicles provides a harrowing counterpoint to the American and French revolutions that would soon follow -- Russell Shorto, author of The Island at the Center of the WorldMarjoleine Kars has brought from the archives the voices of the enslaved, both in hope and in defeat. A tale of importance for our time -- Natalie Zemon Davis, author of Trickster Travels and The Return of Martin Guerre

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Book SynopsisA highly original history of American portraiture that places the experiences of enslaved people at its centerTrade Review2024 Charles Rufus Morey Book Prize Shortlist, sponsored by CAA“A model of method, an investigative tour de force that fluidly mixes laborious archival research and time-honored art historical savvy.”—Paul Staiti, author of Of Arms and Artists: The American Revolution through Painters’ Eyes“Jennifer Van Horn accomplishes something that others have hardly imagined, relating a story of African American participation in and resistance to Euro-American visual culture throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.”—Susan Rather, author of The American School: Artists and Status in the Late Colonial and Early National Era“In this groundbreaking study, Jennifer Van Horn rightly defines production, viewing, representation, preservation, and destruction as acts of subversion that expand our understanding both of the lives of the enslaved and the multivalent ways in which early American portraiture functioned.”—Steven Nelson, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art

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Book SynopsisThe first book-length study of household servants and slaves, exploring a visual history over 400 years and four continentsTrade Review“The topic is an absorbing one and leaves the reader wanting to know more. . . . Complexities of definition and categorisation are apparent, which the author fully acknowledges.”—Tabitha Barber, Art Newspaper“Wolfthal charts some changes over the period and draws on examples from across Europe. Having made the point that servants are largely invisible and always inferior, she looks for exceptions to the general rule.”—Norma Clarke, Literary Review

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Book SynopsisDuring the first generations of European settlement in North America, a number of interconnected Northeastern families carved out private empires. In Bound by Bondage, Nicole Saffold Maskiell argues that slavery was a crucial component to the rise and enduring influence of this emergent aristocracy. Dynastic families built prestige based on shared notions of mastery, establishing sprawling manorial estates and securing cross-colonial landholdings and trading networks that stretched from the Northeast to the South, the Caribbean, and beyond. The members of this elite class were mayors, governors, senators, judges, and presidents, and they were also some of the largest slaveholders in the North. Aspirations to power and status, grounded in the political economy of human servitude, ameliorated ethnic and religious rivalries, and united once antagonistic Anglo and Dutch families, ensuring that Dutch networks endured throughout the English and then Revolutionary periods.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Manhunt 1. Neger: Race, Slavery, and Status in the Dutch Northeast (1640s–60s) 2. Kolonist: Slaveholding and the Survival of Expansive Anglo-Dutch Elite Networks (1650s–90s) 3. Naam: Race, Family, and Connection on the Borderlands (1680s–90s) 4. Bond: Forging an Anglo-Dutch Slaveholding Northeast (1690s–1710s) 5. Family: Kinship, Ambition, and Fear in a Time of Rebellions (1710s–20s) 6. Market: Creating Kinship-Based Empires United by Slaveholding (1730s–50s) 7. Identity: Navigating Racial Expectations to Escape Slavery (1750s–60s) Conclusion: Gentry

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Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE'Alex Renton has done Britain a favour and written a brutally honest book about his family's involvement with slavery. Blood Legacy could change our frequently defensive national conversation about slavery/race' Sathnam Sanghera'Utterly gripped - An incredible book. Alex's work is my book in practice' Emma DabiriThrough the story of his own family's history as slave and plantation owners, Alex Renton looks at how we owe it to the present to understand the legacy of the past. When British Caribbean slavery was abolished across most of the British Empire in 1833, it was not the newly liberated who received compensation, but the tens of thousands of enslavers who were paid millions of pounds in government money. The descendants of some of those slave owners are among the wealthiest and most powerful people in Britain today.A group of Caribbean countries is calling on ten European nations to discuss the payment of trillions of dollars for the damage done by transatlantic slavery and its continuing legacy. Meanwhile, Black Lives Matter and other activist groups are causing increasing numbers of white people to reflect on how this history of abuse and exploitation has benefited them.Blood Legacy explores what inheritance - political, economic, moral and spiritual - has been passed to the descendants of the slave owners and the descendants of the enslaved. He also asks, crucially, how the former - himself among them - can begin to make reparations for the past.Trade ReviewA courageous, deeply affecting and excoriatingly honest account of his family's role in enslavement -- PHILIPPE SANDS * * Financial Times * *Renton . . . dismantles the myths with the efficiency of someone shelling pistachios for a snack . . . remarkable . . . an incredible work of scholarship -- SATHNAM SANGHERA * * The Times * *An important book . . . one of the strengths of Renton's book is that it takes seriously the issue of class . . . In breaking class ranks, Renton has given voice to a long suppressed truth . . . [an] admirable book * * Observer * *In this unflinching, fascinating and very human account, drawn from his own family papers, Alex Renton takes a crucial first step towards reparation, by acknowledging the cruel reality of his ancestors' callous exploitation of enslaved people's labour from afar; detailing the damage done, and both asking and beginning to answer the question of what can be done to purge these sins and their legacies today -- MIRANDA KAUFMANN, author of Black TudorsBlood Legacy is a moving, timely, well-written and strikingly thoughtful book that makes an important contribution to the growing debate on the horrors that accompanied Britain's empire-building. Alex Renton's forensic and remarkably honest analysis of his own family papers, and the profound darkness they contain, highlights our continuing failure to acknowledge the extreme toxicity of so much of our Imperial history -- WILLIAM DALRYMPLEUtterly gripped - an incredible book. Alex's work is my book in practice -- EMMA DABIRIA deeply moving, brave and powerful book -- ANDREW MARRMoving and deeply researched, Alex Renton's account of his ancestors' slaveholding brings home the everyday brutality of Caribbean slavery and its contribution to the making of Britain both then and since. Blood Legacy sets the ordinariness of slaveholding in the eighteenth-century monied world alongside accounts of the extraordinary lives of those they owned. This is a book that asks white Britons to look hard at our past and its consequences in the present -- PROFESSOR DIANA PATONA fascinating family history of profit and loss made during slavery in the Caribbean. This book is truth not fiction -- PROFESSOR SIR GEOFF PALMERA useful counter to British self-congratulation on the ending of the Atlantic slave trade . . . It must make any reader question much of the received wisdom about the eighteenth-century Enlightenment -- ANDREW MARR * * Sunday Times * *

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Book SynopsisThe first history of black slavery in the Maritimes, North to Bondage is a startling corrective to the enduring myth of Canada as a land of freedom at the end of the Underground Railroad.Trade ReviewNorth to Bondage provides a powerful interruption of the historical silencing of slavery in Canada, detailing the complex origins and intricate social relationships that formed the basis of slavery in the Maritimes. The book thus functions as an important corrective to Canadian narratives of slavery that have functioned largely to erase black presence and suffering in Canada by encouraging a belief that slavery was either non-existent, benevolent, or economically unimportant. * Canadian Literature *...North to Bondage is an important work that will become the standard text for understanding Maritime slavery...it not only challenges scholars of early Canada to think about the place and role of slavery but also Canada’s understanding of its national identity. For that reason, it has a place in many different classrooms, including courses on early Canadian history, multiculturalism in Canada, and Atlantic slavery. -- Jared Hardesty, Western Washington University * American Review of Canadian Studies, Vol. 46 No. 4, February 2017 *Whitfield’s book places the experiences of enslaved persons at the centre of this history. This is skilfully done given that there are few sources that contain the unmediated voices of enslaved people in Atlantic Canada …[Whitfield] achieves this by combining archival material and histories of slavery in what became the United States and Canada. He demonstrates that enslaved persons negotiated their experiences of enslavement and he shows that they were integral to bringing about the demise of slavery in the early nineteenth century. -- Eleanor Bird, The University of Sheffield * British Journal of Canadian Studies *Whitfield’s important and very readable study reinserts Maritimes slavery and black labour into the narrative of Canada’s many beginnings while also keeping the relevant black Atlantic connections in full view. -- Winfried Siemerling, University of Waterloo * Left History *Whitfield presents a new avenue for understanding the complexities of slavery in Maritime Canada and opens the door for future research. Rather than expanding on traditional research that stresses the freedoms found by enslaved or escaped African-Americans, Whitfield complicates the narratives and creates a more encompassing image of life in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries ... North to Freedom will be a welcomed addition to courses in both Canadian and American history, especially those looking to bring in new perspectives that challenge the history of slavery. -- Amy Mitchell-Cook, University of West Florida * Canadian Journal of History *North to Bondage is a significant contribution to several subfields of historical research, including African diasporic studies, the history of slavery, early American history, and early Canadian history. At just 118 pages of text and written in accessible prose, it is also very readable and ideally suited for the classroom. -- Christopher C. Jones, Brigham Young University * Early Canadian History *Amani Whitfield provides a nuanced and remarkably fulsome picture of the lives of enslaved people in the Maritimes by drawing on runaway advertisements, court documents, and personal papers. * Immigrants & Minorities *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Slavery in the Maritime Colonies1 Slavery and the American Context2 Maritime Slavery and Loyalist Settlement3 Slave Work4 The World of Maritime Slaves and Slaveholders5 Ending SlaveryConclusion: Legacies of SlaveryAppendix A: Possible Slave NumbersAppendix B: Slave ProfilesNotesBibliographic Essay

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Pulitzer Prize for HistoryThe unforgettable saga of one enslaved woman''s fight for justice--and reparations Born into slavery, Henrietta Wood was taken to Cincinnati and legally freed in 1848. In 1853, a Kentucky deputy sheriff named Zebulon Ward colluded with Wood''s employer, abducted her, and sold her back into bondage. She remained enslaved throughout the Civil War, giving birth to a son in Mississippi and never forgetting who had put her in this position. By 1869, Wood had obtained her freedom for a second time and returned to Cincinnati, where she sued Ward for damages in 1870. Astonishingly, after eight years of litigation, Wood won her case: in 1878, a Federal jury awarded her $2,500. The decision stuck on appeal. More important than the amount, though the largest ever awarded by an American court in restitution for slavery, was the fact that any money was awarded at all. By the time the case was decided, Ward had become a wealthy businessman and a pioneer of convict leasing in the South. Wood''s son later became a prominent Chicago lawyer, and she went on to live until 1912. McDaniel''s book is an epic tale of a black woman who survived slavery twice and who achieved more than merely a moral victory over one of her oppressors. Above all, Sweet Taste of Liberty is a portrait of an extraordinary individual as well as a searing reminder of the lessons of her story, which establish beyond question the connections between slavery and the prison system that rose in its place.Trade ReviewThe reader not only follows the fascinating narrative of a woman who lost her freedom, but also learns of the intricacies of slavery in a border state like Kentucky, the pain of separation from loved ones, and the ordeals of being sold "down the river," surviving on a large cotton plantation, and being an enslaved refugee in Texas during the Civil War... It is an enlightening account from the point of view of an enslaved woman about the arduous trip — and the subsequent years — that many enslaved people were forced to endure by their masters to avoid their being liberated by Union armies... [McDaniel] has turned these into a captivating account of this period, revealing how the legal and economic aspects of the institution of slavery interacted in very personal and human ways with those who were kept enslaved. * Angela Boswell, Professor of History at Henderson State University, Southwestern Historical Quarterly *As a whole, Sweet Taste of Liberty is the fruit of excellent scholarship and a timely and significant addition to the field of U.S. racial history. * Ken Chujo, J.F. Oberlin University, Tokyo, The Journal of Southern History *In this gripping study, Rice University historian McDaniel recounts the painful but triumphant story of one enslaved woman's long fight for justice... McDaniel tells this story engrossingly and accessibly. This is a valuable contribution to Reconstruction history with clear relevance to current debates about reparations for slavery. * Publishers Weekly *Sweet Taste of Liberty is a masterpiece. Using an extraordinary archival discovery, McDaniel expertly weaves a compelling, fine-grained narrative of the extraordinary life of Henrietta Wood. . . . But this is not simply a biography. It also a work of profound analysis, layered with McDaniel's deep knowledge of slavery, emancipation, and the law. The book raises the most profound questions about slavery, reparations, and the debt that the United States owes to the people whose unfree labor constructed a great deal of that nation. * Gregory P. Downs, author of The Second American Revolution: The Civil War-Era Struggle over Cuba and the Rebirth of the American Republic *As America grapples with reparations for slavery, Caleb McDaniel unearths the astounding story of a woman who survived bondage, twice, and fought for restitution against impossible odds. In lucid and vivid prose, he brings us a chilling, inspiring, and timely examination of both the necessity and complexity of redressing historical crimes. * Tony Horwitz, author of Confederates in the Attic and Spying on the South *Henrietta Wood's quest to be made whole by seeking reparations from the man who kidnapped and re-enslaved her is a heart-tugging page-turner. With fidelity to the historical record and insight into the emotions that run through it, Caleb McDaniel's Sweet Taste of Liberty tells how enslaved women lived along the jagged lines that divided house and field, city and countryside, North and South, and slavery and freedom. Her triumph is a tribute to one woman's persistence, courage, legal savvy, and an enduring devotion to family-its lessons for us are timeless. * Martha S. Jones, Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, Johns Hopkins University, author of Birthright Citizens: A History of Race and Rights in Antebellum America *McDaniel renders an enthralling biography of a determined, resilient woman... A well-researched, well-told story that also contributes to the debate about reparations." * Library Journal *Sweet Taste of Liberty is a profound book that could not have been released at a better time... It is an account brimming with as much bittersweetness as it does hope." * ZORA *[A] superbly written chronicle . . . . rich with vivid personalities and unexpected turns." * Wall Street Journal *Through painstaking archival research, Bell and McDaniel have reconstructed their lives with such vivid detail, sensitivity, and riveting storytelling that you would think each of their figures left us whole autobiographies. For the simple act of recovering their stories, both books would be commendable. But what makes them essential reading is the larger questions they demand of us as readers: What exactly was the condition under which un-enslaved black people lived before emancipation * and what is it that they and their descendants are owed?The New Republic *W. Caleb McDaniel tells a breathless tale with an ominously dark feel through many of its pages, because the monsters here were real. Yes, it's a complicated tale that races from north to south, but the righteous audacity that ultimately occurred in Ohio in 1870 makes it worthwhile, fist-pumping, and satisfying. Historians, of course, will want Sweet Taste of Liberty. Feminists shouldn't miss it. Folks with an opinion on reparations should find it. All of you will want to take it home. * Miami Times *A deeply rich story... This beautifully written book is a must read. * Civil War Monitor *Sweet Taste of Liberty uses the past to show how the open wounds of slavery still exist. * The Advocate *Researchers, leisurely readers and those in the general public looking to be more informed about the history of slavery and reparations in this country, would be hard-pressed not to find this book compelling. It is a story that deserves to be heard and a conversation that needs to be had. * Bowling Green Daily News *A book that single-handedly proves that new American heroes can be found in the obscured corners of this country's history. * Bowery Boys, American History Book of the Year 2020 *Table of ContentsPrologue Part I - The Worst Slave of Them All Chapter 1: The Crossing Chapter 2: Touseytown Chapter 3: Down River Chapter 4: Ward's Return Chapter 5: Cincinnati Chapter 6: The Plan Chapter 7: The Flight Part II - Forks of the Road Chapter 8: Raising a Muss Chapter 9: Wood versus Ward Chapter 10: The Keeper Chapter 11: Natchez Chapter 12: Brandon Hall Chapter 13: Versailles Chapter 14: Revolution Chapter 15: The March Part III - The Return of Henrietta Wood Chapter 16: Arthur Chapter 17: Robertson County Chapter 18: Dawn and Doom Chapter 19: Nashville Chapter 20: A Rather Interesting Case Chapter 21: Story of a Slave Chapter 22: The Verdict Epilogue Acknowledgements Appendix: An Essay on Sources Notes Index

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.

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Book SynopsisBuild your child's reading confidence at home with books at the right levelHarriet Tubman was born into slavery in 19th Century America, but managed to escape and gain her freedom. Follow this amazing biography of a woman who was prepared to risk her own life to save others from the slavery she had escaped, and learn about the Underground Railroad that she used to achieve this.Topaz/Band 13 books offer longer and more demanding reads for children to investigate and evaluate.Text type: A biographyCurriculum links: History; CitizenshipThis book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.

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Book SynopsisBuild your child's reading confidence at home with books at the right levelAntislavery campaigner, author, diplomat and political statesmen, Frederick Douglass was one of the greatest men of his age. Having been enslaved himself, Frederick fought publicly against slavery and was an inspiration in the fight for social and political change. Written by Amanda Mitchison, find out about this life-long battle to fight for equality.Sapphire/Band 16 books offer longer reads to develop children''s sustained engagement with texts and are more complex syntactically.Text type: A biographyCurriculum links: History, CitizenshipThis book has been quizzed for Accelerated Reader.

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Book SynopsisI cannot help but see the bodies of my near ancestors in the current caravans of desperate souls fleeing from place to place, chased by famine, war and toxins. Ideas honed in slavery of the otherness, the boorishness, the inferiority of thy neighbour have continued to travel through American society.'The story of slavery in America is not over. It lives on in how we speak to one another, in how we treat one another, in how our societies are organised. In Giving a Damn, the legal scholar Patricia Williams finds that when you begin to unpick current debates around immigration, freedom of speech, the culture wars and wall-building, beneath them lies the unexamined history of enslavement in the West. Our ability to dehumanize one another can be traced all the way from the plantation to the US President's Twitter account.Williams begins in the American South with Gone With the Wind (still the second most popular book in the USA after the Bible), that nostalgic tale full of the myths of th

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“This is an emotional and passionate book, raw in its grief and anger, but also imbued with hope for redemption. Based on objective his­torical fact and subjective experience, Of Greed and Glory has the power of a sermon and the urgency of a manifesto.” — Deborah Mason, BookPage "As indispensable to understanding the Americas as Edward E. Baptist’s The Half Has Never Been Told. Of Greed and Glory powerfully demonstrates that though we as Black Americans are far from faultless in some of our most egregious behavior on the mean plantations and streets of antebellum and modern America, we nonetheless have had to grow our dignity beneath the pitiless boot of those who looked into the tiny faces of our infants and saw only dollar signs. Powerful and necessary." — Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and National Book Award winning author of The Color Purple and Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart “If you want to understand the current issues surrounding race, social justice, and inequality, you have to read Deborah Plant’s book, Of Greed and Glory. Deborah understands that the issues surrounding race, unfolding before us now in America, are deeply rooted in the legacy of the African American past. She writes eloquently and beautifully about that past. Of Greed and Glory is a must-read book for socially conscious citizens.” — Clyde W. Ford, Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Award in African American fiction—winning author of Of Blood and Sweat and Think Black "Of Greed and Glory is impossible to put down. It’s a searing, provocative analysis of how the roots of slavery in the US still infiltrate so many of our social institutions. Plant’s vivid prose will leave you affected, challenged, and thinking about this book long after you’re done reading." — Adia Wingfield, author of Gray Areas, Flatlining, and No More Invisible Man "Deborah G. Plant courageously and painstakingly provides insight into the devastation and trauma experienced generations of African Americans, persons of color, and the poor … This is a must read that challenges us to become active in the movement to abolish slavery, patriarchy, and other forms of oppression that exist in our nation." — Diane D. Turner, author of Feeding the Soul and curator of the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, Temple University Libraries

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“an essential reckoning with the roots of the racial wealth gap in America.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A compelling argument for long-overdue reparations—though much more than that alone.” — Kirkus Reviews “Ford’s forceful arguments and writing will compel readers to face the facts of the long history of exploitation and appropriation that have defined so much of America’s struggle with itself to give substance and meaning to its promise of 'freedom' for all.” — Library Journal (starred review) “Ford makes a clear case that the past is never over. The wounds inflicted by slavery have never healed, and he argues that they will continue to harm our country until we deal with them honestly. For many Americans, reading Of Blood and Sweat will be an excellent first step in that process.” — BookPage

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Book SynopsisFrederick Douglass was a key figure in helping to secure the abolition of slavery in America discover his Narrative this Black History Month. A masterpiece [Douglass] was not only self-educated, with a love of language which should still be an inspiration; he was also self-created' New York Times Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Maryland in 1818. After his escape in 1838 he became an ardent abolitionist, and his autobiography was an instant bestseller upon publication in 1845. In it he describes with harrowing honesty his life as a slave the cruelty he suffered at the hands of plantation owners; his struggles to educate himself in a world where slaves are deliberately kept ignorant; and ultimately, his fight for his right to freedom. A passionately written, inteTrade ReviewSlavery, color, racism and the struggle for equal rights all come together in the Douglass story...a declaration of freedom by a runaway slave that became a powerful antislavery tract * New York Times *Frederick Douglass has been hailed as one of history's most inspirational leaders and is a personal hero of Barack Obama who called him "the father of the civil rights movement" * Mirror *His life retains an emblematic glow transcending its biographical ingredients * Independent *

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Book SynopsisTruth's landmark slave narrative chronicles her experiences as a slave in upstate New York and her transformation into an extraordinary abolitionist, feminist, orator, and preacher. Based on the complete 1884 edition, this volume includes the Book of Life, a collection of letters and sketches about Truth's life written subsequent to the original 1850 publication of the Narrative, and A Memorial Chapter, a sentimental account of her death.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.Trade Review"The time is long overdue for a compelling look at the legendary Sojourner Truth. Margaret Washington deserves our gratitude for reclaiming Truth and shedding light on the most enigmatic black woman of the 19th century."-- Darlene Clark Hine, Professor of History, Michigan State UniversityTable of ContentsNarrative of Sojourner Truth Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Nell Irvin PainterIntroductionSuggestions for Further ReadingA Note on the TextNARRATIVE OF SOJOURNER TRUTHPreface by Frances W. TitusNarrative of Sojourner Truth"Book of Life"A Memorial ChapterExplanatory Notes

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Book SynopsisThe History of Mary Prince (1831) was the first narrative of a black woman to be published in Britain. It describes Prince''s sufferings as a slave in Bermuda, Turks Island and Antigua, and her eventual arrival in London with her brutal owner Mr Wood in 1828. Prince escaped from him and sought assistance from the Anti-Slavery Society, where she dictated her remarkable story to Susanna Strickland (later Moodie). A moving and graphic document, The History drew attention to the continuation of slavery in the Caribbean, despite an 1807 Act of Parliament officially ending the slave trade. It inspired two libel actions and ran into three editions in the year of its publication. This powerful rallying cry for emancipation remains an extraordinary testament to Prince''s ill-treatment, suffering and survival.Table of ContentsThe History of Mary Prince AcknowledgmentsIntroductionFurther ReadingChronologyA Note on the TextTHE HISTORY OF MARY PRINCENotesAppendix OneAppendix TwoAppendix ThreeAppendix Four

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Book SynopsisA haunting, evocative recounting of her life as a slave in North Carolina, and her final escape and emancipation, Jacobs'' narrative, written between 1853 and 1858 and published in 1861, is one of the most important books ever written documenting the traumas and horrors of slavery in the antebellum South.

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Book SynopsisA freed slave's daring assertion of the evils of slaveryBorn in present-day Ghana, Quobna Ottobah Cugoano was kidnapped at the age of thirteen and sold into slavery by his fellow Africans in 1770; he worked in the brutal plantation chain gangs of the West Indies before being freed in England. His Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery is the most direct criticism of slavery by a writer of African descent. Cugoano refutes pro-slavery arguments of the day, including slavery's supposed divine sanction; the belief that Africans gladly sold their own families into slavery; that Africans were especially suited to its rigors; and that West Indian slaves led better lives than European serfs. Exploiting his dual identity as both an African and a British citizen, Cugoano daringly asserted that all those under slavery's yoke had a moral obligation to rebel, while at the same time he appealed to white England's better self.For more than seventy years, PenTrade Review"Vincent Carretta singlehandedly has transformed our understanding of the origins of the Anglo-African literary tradition. He has breathed new life into texts long thought dead" —Henry Louis Gates, Jr.Table of ContentsEdited with an Introduction and Notes by Vincent CarrettaIntroduction by Vincent CarrettaAcknowledgmentsA Note on the TextIllustrationsSuggestions for Further ReadingThoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Humbly Submitted to The Inhabitants of Great-Britain, by Ottobah Cugoano, a Native of Africa.London: 1787Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery; or, the Nature of Servitude as Admitted by the Law of God, Compared to the Modern Slavery of the Africans in the West-Indies; In an Answer to the Advocates for Slavery and Oppression. Addressed to the Sons of Africa, by a Native.London: 1791Explanatory Notes to the 1787 PublicationExplanatory Notes to the 1791 PublicationAppendix: Correspondence of Quobna Ottobah Cugoano

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Book SynopsisA searing--and sobering--account of the legal and extra-legal means by which systemic white racism has kept Black Americans ''in their place'' from slavery to police and vigilante killings of Black men and women, from 1619 to the present.From the arrival of the first English settlers in America until now-a span of four centuries-a minority of white men have created, managed, and perpetuated their control of every major institution, public and private, in American society. And no group in America has suffered more from the harms imposed by white men''s laws than African Americans, with punishment by law often replaced by extra-legal means. Over the centuries, thousands of victims have been murdered by lynching, white mobs, and appalling massacres.In White Men''s Law, the eminent scholar Peter Irons makes a powerful and persuasive case that African Americans have always been held back by systemic racism in all major institutions that can hold power over them. Based on a wide range of souTrade ReviewThe book Irons' has written is brilliant analysis of just how deep and pervasive our history of racial inequality remains. * William H. Chafe, Journal of Southern History *Table of ContentsPreface: "They've Got Him!" Ch. 1: "Thirty Lashes, Well Laid On" Ch. 2: "Dem Was Hard Times, Sho Nuff" Ch. 3: "Beings of An Inferior Order" Ch. 4: "Fighting For White Supremacy" Ch. 5: "The Foul Odors of Blacks" Ch. 6: "Negroes Plan to Kill All Whites" Ch. 7: "Why Don't Dmocracy Include Me?" Ch 8: "I Thanked God Right Then and There" Ch 9: "War Against the Constitution" Ch 10: "Two Cities-One White, the Other Black" Ch 11: "All Blacks Are Angry" Ch 12: "The Basic Minimal Skills" References

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Trade Review"This magisterial study is a triumph of scholarship....Must reading for anyone interested in American legal history or the Civil War."--Virginia Quarterly Review

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Book SynopsisThis textbook has been designed to confront a central issue in the study of 19th-century Afro-American literature - the question of how to analyse and evaluate the autobiographical tradition of ex-slaves.Trade Review`An imnpressive collection.' New York Times Book Review`This important collection of essays provides the most complete and cogent analysis of the slave narratives to date, and it demonstrates, again, that the narratives had and continue to have many uses ... The essays make a strong case for opening the historical and literary canon to include the slave narratives and testify to their enduring significance.' Library Journal`The Slave's Narrative is the most sophisticated and comprehensive book we have yet on the central issue facing students of 19th Century Afro-American literature: the question of how to analyse and evaluate the autobiographical tradition of ex-slaves. ...it is unlikely that any single collection of essays could do greater justice than The Slave's Tale has to the breadth, vitality, and untapped potential of this topic and the discourse it has generated.'William L. Andrews, University of Wisconsin, (BALF Spring/Summer 1986)Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Language of Slavery, xi 1. Written by Themselves, Views and Reviews, 1750-1861 The Life of Job Ben Solomon, 4 - Anonymous The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African; Written by Himself, 5 The Life and Adventures of a Fugitive Slave, 6 - Anonymous Narrative of James Williams, 8 - Anonymous The Narrative of Juan Manzano, 15 - Anonymous Narratives of Fugitive Slaves, 19 - Ephraim Peabody Life of Henry Bibb, 28 - Anonymous The Life and Bondage of Frederick Douglass, 30 - Anonymous Kidnapped and Ransomed, 31 - - Anonymous Linda: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, 32 - Anonymous 2. The Slave Narratives as History On Dialect Usage, 37 - Sterling A. Brown The Art and Science of Reading WPA Slave Narratives, 40 - Paul D. Escott History from Slave Sources, 48 - C. Vann Woodward Charles Chesnutt and the WPA Narratives: The Oral and the Literate Roots of Afro-American Literature, 59 - John Edgar Wideman Using the Testimony of Ex-Slaves: Approaches and Problems, 78 - John W. Blassingame Plantation Factories and the Slave Work Ethic, 98 - Gerald Jaynes The Making of a Fugitive Slave Narrative: Josiah Henson and Uncle Tom -- A Case Study, 112 - Robin W. Winks 3. The Slave Narratives as Literature "I Was Born": Slave Narratives, Their Status as Autobiography and as Literature, 148 - James Olney Three West African Writers of the 1870s, 175 - Paul Edwards Crushed Geraniums: Juan Francisco Manzano and the Language of Slavery, 199 - Susan Willis I Rose and Found My Voice: Narration, Authentication, and Authorial Control in Four Slave Narratives, 225 - Robert Burns Stepto Autobiographical Acts and the Voice of the Southern Slave, 242 - Houston A. Baker, Jr. Text and Contexts of Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, 262 - Jean Fagan Yellin The Slave Narrators and the Picaresque Mode: Archetypes for Modern Black Personae, 283 - Charles H. Nichols Singing Swords: The Literary Legacy of Slavery, 298 - Melvin Dixon Bibliography, 319 Index, 331

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Book SynopsisThe book represents a close study of slavery in the rice plantations of South Carolina and Georgia. The emphasis is principally on the human relations of slavery, both black and white. The book presents unique insights on how the institution of slavery actually functioned in the Antebellum American South.Trade ReviewThe majority of Dusinberre's research is based upon a careful reading and close analysis of a variety of published sources. Dusinberre's description of life and death at Gowne between 1833 and 1865 constitutes one of the most fully realized and horrific portraits of slavery on a single North American plantation ever written ... Them Dark Days is often so combative and polemical in its interpretation that its author must have expected to provoke controversy. I hope and expect that students of the subject will be reading and debating Them Dark Days for years to come. * Robert Olwell, University of Texas at Austin, Slavery & Abolition, Vol. 18, No. 2, August '97 *The sheer weight of evidence employed to support this thesis is impressive, and sobering ... as the first full-length study devoted to a reassessment of this contentious and important topic, Dusinberre's work stands out as a significant achievement, a timely reminder that even modern assessments of slavery do not yet tell the whole story of 'them dark days' in the antebellum South. * S-M. Grant, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, The Historical Association 1997 *

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Book SynopsisThis text explores the 1823 slave rebellion in Demerara (now Guyana) - one of the largest in history. The 60,000 black slaves who rose up against their British masters were brutally put down. The book looks at the conflict which gave the rebellion life and the forces which finally ended slavery.Trade ReviewIn Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood Emilia Viotti da Costa tells the story of the Demerara slave rebellion of 1823, and she tells it very well. Her narrative, vividly written, utilizes multiple sources to tell the story from different points of view. Her book comes out of a tradition of writing inspired both by marxist and nationalist historiographies and has none of the trappings of a postcolonial text. The older questions of historical determination, of causality and of agency meet the new agendas of cultural history in a deeply satisfying narrative. * History Workshop Journal *

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Book SynopsisCovering the colonial period to the Civil War and spanning all of the northern United States, this text documents the antebellum northern black experience. It demonstrates the central role of the black community in successfully managing the tensions born of assimilation and cultural difference.Trade Reviewwhat makes In Hope of Liberty so stimulating is the juxtaposition of the broad historical sweep with individual experience. * S-M Grant, American Studies, 33:2, 1999. *it is the Horton's ability to pull together such a wide and varied range of individual voices that makes this work so approachable. * S-M Grant, American Studies, 33:2, 1999. *Given the amount of scholarship to-date on the themes of black culture, community and protest, the Hortons have set their sights high in attempting a single-volume study covering all three topics. They have nevertheless succeeded in producing a work of synthesis which is both broad in scope and, most importantly, accessible to a wide readership. * S-M Grant, American Studies, 33:2, 1999. *

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Book SynopsisWhile the rise and abolition of slavery and ongoing race relations are central themes of the history of the United States, the African diaspora actually had a far greater impact on Latin and Central America. More than ten times as many Africans came to Spanish and Portuguese America as the United States. In this, the first history of the African diaspora in Latin America from emancipation to the present, George Reid Andrews deftly synthesizes the history of people of African descent in every Latin American country from Mexico and the Caribbean to Argentina. He examines how African peooples and their descendants made their way from slavery to freedom and how they helped shape and responded to political, economic, and cultural changes in their societies. Individually and collectively they pursued the goals of freedom, equality, and citizenship through military service, political parties, civic organizations, labor unions, religious activity, and other avenues. Spanning two centuries, thiTrade Review...a thoughtful account that should change the way we view and teach the role of Africans in the New World. * Colin M. Maclachlan, Hispanic American Historical Review *Table of ContentsMaps Introduction 1. 1800 2. "An Exterminating Bolt of LIghtning": The Wars for Freedom, 1810-1890 3. "Our New Citizens, the Blacks": The Politics of Freedom, 1810-1890 4. "A Transfusion of New Blood": Whitening, 1880-1930 5. Browning and Blackening, 1930-2000 6. Into the Twenty-First Century: 2000 and Beyond Appendix: Population Counts, 1800-2000 Glossary Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisMany leading historians have argued that the Constitution of the United States was a proslavery document. But in The Slaveholding Republic, one of America''s most eminent historians refutes this claim in a landmark history that stretches from the Continental Congress to the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Fehrenbacher shows that the Constitution itself was more or less neutral on the issue of slavery and that, in the antebellum period, the idea that the Constitution protected slavery was hotly debated (many Northerners would concede only that slavery was protected by state law, not by federal law). Nevertheless, he also reveals that U.S. policy abroad and in the territories was consistently proslavery. Fehrenbacher makes clear why Lincoln''s election was such a shock to the South and shows how Lincoln''s approach to emancipation, which seems exceedingly cautious by modern standards, quickly evolved into a Republican revolution that ended the anomaly of the United States as a slaveholding republic. Advances our knowledge of the critical relationships of slavery to the American government, placing it in perspective and explaining its meaning.... One could hardly ask for more.--Ira Berlin, The Washington PostTrade ReviewDon E. Fehrenbacher's final book, ably completed and edited by his former student Ward M. McAfee, examines the U.S. government's relations with slavery from the founding of the republic through the Civil War ... because of its clear thesis, broad view, and lively narration, The Slaveholding Republic will surely make an influential contribution to the historiography of American politics and slavery. And, like all good books, it raises important questions that deserve further examination. * American Nineteenth Century History *The Slaveholding Republic not only advances our knowledge of the critical relationships of slavery to the American government, placing it in perspective and explaining its meaning, but it also helps frame contemporary debates over the perennial question about the relative power of the nation and the locality. One could hardly ask for more. * Ira Berlin, The Washington Post *A major historian addresses a major theme in the late Don Fehrenbacher's The Slaveholding Republic. Rigorously based on the original sources, this book accurately and soberly relates the shameful story of how the federal government treated human beings as property. * Daniel Walker Howe, Rhodes Professor of American History, Oxford University *Engagingly written, thoughtfully conceived, and filled with flashes of insight. Here is a compelling contribution to the ongoing debate about the nation's ends and means, its better angels, and its fundamental law. * Phillip Shaw Paludan, author of "A People's Contest": The Union and the Civil War *Table of ContentsPreface ; I. Introduction ; II. Slavery and the Founding of the Republic ; III. Slavery in the National Capital ; IV. Slavery in American Foreign Relations ; V. The African Slave Trade, 1789-1842 ; VI. The African Slave Trade, 1842-1862 ; VII. The Fugitive Slave Problem to 1850 ; VIII. The Fugitive Slave Problem , 1850-1864 ; IX. Slavery in the Territories ; X. The Republican Revolution ; XI. Conclusion

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Book SynopsisBy the mid-eighteenth century, the transatlantic slave trade was considered to be a necessary and stabilizing factor in the capitalist economies of Europe and the expanding Americas. Britain was the most influential power in this system which seemed to have the potential for unbounded growth. In 1833, the British empire became the first to liberate its slaves and then to become a driving force toward global emancipation. There has been endless debate over the reasons behind this decision. This has been portrayed on the one hand as a rational disinvestment in a foundering overseas system, and on the other as the most expensive per capita expenditure for colonial reform in modern history. In this work, Seymour Drescher argues that the plan to end British slavery, rather than being a timely escape from a failing system, was, on the contrary, the crucial element in the greatest humanitarian achievement of all time. The Mighty Experiment explores how politicians, colonial bureaucrats, pampTrade Review""Seymour Drescher's magnificent book on the British Act of Emancipation of 1833, and many other things besides, explains the role of the eighteenth-century scince of political economy in the anti-slavery movement."-EH-NET

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Book SynopsisNat Turner''s name rings through American history with a force all its own. Leader of the most important slave rebellion on these shores, variously viewed as a murderer of unarmed women and children, an inspired religious leader, a fanatic--this puzzling figure represents all the terrible complexities of American slavery. And yet we do not know what he looked like, where he is buried, or even whether Nat Turner was his real name. In Nat Turner: A Slave Rebellion in History and Memory, Kenneth S. Greenberg gathers twelve distinguished scholars to offer provocative new insight into the man, his rebellion, and his time, and his place in history. The historians here explore Turner''s slave community, discussing the support for his uprising as well as the religious and literary context of his movement. They examine the place of women in his insurrection, and its far-reaching consequences (including an extraordinary 1832 Virginia debate about ridding the state of slavery). Here are discussioTrade Review[A] dedicated effort by historians to unearth the rich particulars from which historical memory is created. * Richmond Times-Dispatch *Offer[s] new insight into the man, his rebellion and his time. * Publishers Weekly *An eclectic collection of perspectives about Nat Turner and his rebellion. * Times Literary Supplement *An illuminating stew of antebellum Southern history, ethnic relations, and contemporary social literature. * Kirkus Reviews *Informed by much new work on the context of slave life and rebellion, an understanding of African American folk and literary texts, and improved methods of psychobiography. No single vision of Nat Turner or meaning for his rebellion emerges, but all the essays repay several readings and remind us how central understanding of him is to any hope of getting hold of slavery's place in the American mind and conscience. * Library Journal *With the prospects of terror so much on our minds, the publication of this fascinating collection is especially appropriate. Kenneth Greenberg's engrossing introduction and the essays that follow explore from nearly every interpretive angle the dramatic events of Southampton County, Virginia (1831). The authors illustrate how a deep, incandescent loathing of slavery and desire for freedom led the visionary Turner and his slave band to slaughter white civilians, young and old, an effort that prompted equally terroristic vengeance by an outraged, frightened slaveholding population. Moral ambiguities abound, and the reader is compelled to ponder the tragedy of American race relations in a most profound way. * Bertram Wyatt-Brown, University of Florida *Nat Turner is no longer merely villain or hero in American memory. This splendid collection of scholarly essays and remembrances offers the most thorough understanding we have yet had of this pivotal slave rebel. We can see Turner here from multiple perspectives: historical, moral, psychological, literary, and especially the politics of memory and race. * David W. Blight, Yale University *

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Book SynopsisThe role and consequences of slavery in the history of Africa have been brought to the fore recently in historical, anthropological and archaeological research. Public remembrances - such as Abolition 2007 in Great Britain, which marked the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act and which this volume also commemorates - have also stimulated considerable interest. There is a growing realisation that enslavement, whether as part of a sliding scale of ''rights in persons'' or due to acts of violence, has a history on the African continent that extends back in time long before the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.The nature of such enslavement is obscured by the lack of resolution in historical sources before the middle of the second millennium AD. Ground-breaking archaeological research is now building models for approaching slave labour systems via collaboration with historians and the critical scrutiny of historical data. Generally, such new research focuses at the landscape scalTrade Reviewin Africa thus stands as a major addition to the literature on the archaeology of Africaâs recent past, and will find a welcomehomeon the bookshelves of students of African history and comparative slavery alike. * J. Cameron Monroe, South African Archaeological Bulletin *Table of ContentsSECTION 1: SLAVE SYSTEMS OF PRODUCTION IN THE AFRICAN INTERIOR: CASE STUDIES FROM THE SUDANIC BELT ; SECTION 2: ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE: EVIDENCE FROM AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE PASSAGE ; SECTION 3: ELUSIVE SLAVERY: DETECTING ENSLAVEMENT IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD OF EASTERN AFRICA ; SECTION 4: REMEMBERING SLAVERY: CONTEMPORARY PERCEPTIONS

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Book SynopsisThe first comprehensive environmental synthesis of the Caribbean region, written by eminent scholars of the topic.Trade ReviewThe Caribbean was the first region in the Americas to bear the human and environmental stamp of European intervention, mainly through slavery and sugar monoculture. Further, it is the place from which modernity and European capitalism emergedthe modern industrial labor regime had its origin in the rigors of plantation slavery, and in the 18th century, the Caribbean became a center of European finance. This volume treats Caribbean environmental history from the first Indigenous settlement of 7,000 BCE to the mid-19th century. It comprises three sections, each with eminent authorship and a cooperatively written conclusion...[that] deals with the regions environmental history after 1850. An authoritative and accessible work for all libraries. Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. * Choice *The violence of natural phenomena like hurricanes, manmade horrors like African chattel slavery, and the destruction of the natural environment by planters,...the dangers of environmental destruction, deforestation, and climatic shocks...all of these subjects are excellently covered in Sea and Land, which, surprisingly, is the Caribbean's first twenty-first-century comprehensive environmental history....This book provides a standard account of Caribbean history but one that is done with such verve and with such authority that it is an essential guide to the dynamics of the Caribbean in a larger global system....Brilliantly executed. * Trevor Burnard, New West Indian Guide *This enticing and coherent volume is environmental history at its best, gracefully moving in scale from microscopic insects to massive global transformations during the last five hundred years. The research is innovative and the writing stellar. Together, the authors illustrate the centrality of the Caribbean to global phenomena such as slavery and the Atlantic world, ecological exchanges, and pandemics. * Charles F. Walker, University of California, Davis *This exceptional work brims with the richness, exuberance, and fragility of the creole ecologies of the Caribbean. Through its focus on the multifarious physical environments of the region and their amalgams of global biota, this volume fills a significant gap in the region's historiography. It demonstrates that thinking with the environment is essential for the historical understanding of the Caribbean and the violent worlds of modern colonialism, capitalism, and extractivism that emerged from the region. * Pablo F. Gómez, University of Wisconsin-Madison *An authoritative and accessible work for all libraries. * Choice *This book was overdue...This attempt to bring an environmental focus to the islands and the sea is an excellent place to start, a most enjoyable reading...This book delivers on its promise to document environmental changes in the Caribbean for the longue durée. Undergraduates will benefit from this knowledge, while graduate students should draw inspiration toward topics that demand further research. The collaboration that these scholars undertook has paid off handsomely. * Myrna Santiago, Saint Mary's College of California, H-Net *Sea and Land excels in balancing the broad, enduring themes of Caribbean environmental history alongside an analysis of particular events and their aftermaths. In the same convincing manner, it identifies the elements that make the Caribbean a unified space while also showing variations in diverse island environments and societie...It is a thorough, scholarly work that also speaks to a broader audience. * Rasmus Christensen, Journal of Early America *

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Book SynopsisThe Interesting Narrative is a first-hand account of the horrors of slavery, published on the eve of the British abolition debate in 1789. The most important African autobiography of the 18th century, it recounts Equiano's adventures on land and sea. This edition's introduction surveys recent debates about Equiano's birthplace and identity.Trade ReviewThe appetite for Equiano and his memoir shows no signs of abating, as this new edition shows. * James Walvin, The Times *The book adds to the body of knowledge about a great man, Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, The African. Students now have a wider chose of resources as they study his complex but interesting life. * Arthur Torrington, The Equiano Society *This book will change our assumptions about slavery and affect, and also change our sense of what works can be connected to this vast enterprise. It makes for what is sometimes surprising reading, but it also makes so much sense that the century will never again look quite the same as it did before this book. * George E. Haggerty, SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 *This edition of Equiano's The Interesting Narrative, paired with Carey's introduction and explanatory materials, provides a text that is meaningful across educational levels and backgrounds. It should help to ensure that Equiano's text, with its relevance to multiple disciplines and areas of inquiry, does not again disappear from our awareness. * International Journal of African Historical Studies *

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Book SynopsisA concise, reasoned, practical case for why Britain should pay reparations for historic wrongs to present Caribbean inhabitants.Britain owes reparations to the Caribbean. The exploitation of generations of those trafficked from Africa, or born into enslavement, to work the immensely profitable sugars plantations, enriched both British individuals and the British nation. Colonialism, even after emancipation, perpetuated the exploitation. The Caribbean still suffers, and Britain still benefits, from these historic wrongs.There are some fairly standard objections to reparations -- ''slavery ended a long time ago''; ''Britain should be celebrating its role in abolishing slavery''; ''slavery was legal back then and we shouldn''t judge the past by the standards of the present''; ''you shouldn''t visit the sins of the fathers on the sons''; and so on. And there is a sense that the practical problems of who should pay what to whom are immensely difficult.Michael Banner carefully considers and

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Book SynopsisThere is a broad consensus among scholars that the idea of human rights was a product of the Enlightenment but that a self-conscious and broad-based human rights movement focused on international law only began after World War II. In this narrative, the nineteenth century''s absence is conspicuous--few have considered that era seriously, much less written books on it. But as Jenny Martinez shows in this novel interpretation of the roots of human rights law, the foundation of the movement that we know today was a product of one of the nineteenth century''s central moral causes: the movement to ban the international slave trade. Originating in England in the late eighteenth century, abolitionism achieved remarkable success over the course of the nineteenth century. Martinez focuses in particular on the international admiralty courts, which tried the crews of captured slave ships. The courts, which were based in the Caribbean, West Africa, Cape Town, and Brazil, helped free at least 80,00Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. International Law, Slavery and the Idea of International Human Rights ; 2. British Abolitionism and Diplomacy, 1807-1817 ; 3. The United States and the Slave Trade: 1776-1824 ; 4. The Courts of Mixed Commission for the Abolition of the Slave Trade ; 5. Am I Not a Man and a Brother? ; 6. Hostis Humanis Generis: Enemies of Mankind ; 7. The Final Abolition of the Slave Trade ; 8. A Bridge to the Future: Links Between the Abolition of the Slave Trade and the Modern International Human Rights Movement ; 9. International Human Rights Law and International Courts: Rethinking their Origins and Future

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Book SynopsisW. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois''s sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolific author of novels, autobiographical accounts, innumerable editorials and journalistic pieces, and several works of history.One of the most neglected and obscure books by W. E. B. Du Bois, In Battle for Peace frankly documents Du Bois''s experiences following his attempts to mobilize Americans against the emerging conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. A victim of McCarthyism, Du Bois endured a humiliating trial-he was later acquitted-and faced political persecution for over a decadTrade Review"This set represents an invaluable assembly of the works of the pioneering African American scholar, activist, and creative genius....The introductions to the individual volumes are written by such distinguished scholars as to make those writings indispensable treasures in their own right. Recommended for all public libraries and essential for every academic institution."--Library Journal (starred review) "This set is a valuable contribution to African-American scholarship. It has the potential to introduce a new readership to the scope and breadth of a unique and seminal thinker. The works included can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the issues now facing contemporary Americans....[A] breathtaking collection."--School Library Journal "The general introduction and the introductions to each of Du Bois's works form a valuable opus in their own right, as they convey the author's political and social theories and indicate the richness and development of his ideas....The realities of slavery, racism, and segregation in the United States are always at the forefront, making these works (many of them out-of-print) continually pertinent and forceful reading....This set will be an essential addition to public and college libraries."--Reference and Research Book News "This set will be vital to all large university libraries with collections in African American history and American literature."--American Reference Books Annual "Examining Du Bois's oeuvre in its totality reveals an arc to his career, swinging from the formal scholarly writing of his early years to a trenchant and trademark blend of history, memoir, and polemic....Bringing together all of DuBois's work as a whole, observes [Lawrence D. Bobo of Stanford University's Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity], 'reveals the enormity of his intellect, and how it was ignored in his day."--The Chronicle of Philanthropy "W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) published 22 works during his long career, all of them contained within this impressive and painstaking collected set....[T]he general introduction and the introductions to each of Du Bois's works form a valuable opus in their own right, as they convey the author's political and social theories and indicate the richness and development of his ideas. Du Bois's conception of race and color in America is a central theme throughout his oeuvre, beginning with his seminal Souls of Black Folk of 1903. The realities of slavery, racism, and segregation in the United States are always at the forefront, making these works (many of them out-of-print) continually pertinent and forceful reading....This set will be an essential addition to public and college libraries."--Reference and Research Book NewsTable of ContentsSeries Introduction: The Black Letters on the Sign ; Introduction ; I. About Birthdays ; II. The Council on African Affairs ; III. My Habit of Travel ; IV. Peace Congresses ; V. The Peace Information Center ; VI. My Campaign for Senator ; VII. The Indictment ; VIII. The Birthday Dinner ; IX. An Indicted Criminal ; X. The Pilgrimages for Defense ; XI. Oh! John Rogge ; XII. The Trial ; XIII. The Acquittal ; XIV. Interpretations ; Appendix ; Index ; William Edward Burghardt Du Bois: A Chronology ; Selected Bibliography

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Book SynopsisIn Death or Liberty, Douglas R. Egerton offers a sweeping chronicle of African American history stretching from Britain''s 1763 victory in the Seven Years'' War to the election of slaveholder Thomas Jefferson as president in 1800. While American slavery is usually identified with antebellum cotton plantations, Egerton shows that on the eve of the Revolution it encompassed everything from wading in the South Carolina rice fields to carting goods around Manhattan to serving the households of Boston''s elite. More important, he recaptures the drama of slaves, freed blacks, and white reformers fighting to make the young nation fulfill its republican slogans. Although this struggle often unfolded in the corridors of power, Egerton pays special attention to what black Americans did for themselves in these decades, and his narrative brims with compelling portraits of forgotten African American activists and rebels, who battled huge odds and succeeded in finding liberty--if never equality--onlTrade ReviewThe monumental accomplishments of Founding Fathers like Thomas Jefferson and George Washington seem trivial in comparison to what many of their African American contemporaries achieved. Seizing the unprecedented opportunities presented by the Revolutionary War, thousands of enslaved Americans - including slaves owned by Jefferson and Washington - made their own declarations of independence and undertook the arduous and perilous journey from slave to freedom. Now, for the first time, the scores of recent investigations of black participation in the American Revolution have been synthesized into an elegant and seamless narrative. In Death or Liberty - a title taken not from Patrick Henry but from a participant in Gabriel's Rebellion in 1800 -Douglas Egerton shows that African Americans not only extracted the most liberty from the Revolutionary experience but also paid the highest price for it. * Woody Holton, University of Richmond *Slowly, American understanding of the vital Revolutionary era is becoming more open, subtle, and realistic. Douglas Egerton's suggestive book uses real lives to weave surprising new threads into this familiar old flag. * Peter H. Wood, author of Strange New Land: Africans in Colonial America *In this highly readable account Douglas Egerton weaves together the stories of black and white men and women in a seamless and deeply human telling of the American Revolutionary war. Even scholars familiar with the subject matter will find fresh and original insights on virtually every aspect of American Revolutionary history. * Sylvia R. Frey, author of Water from the Rock: Black Resistance in a Revolutionary Age *Table of ContentsPrologue: The Trials of William Lee: A Life in the Age of Revolution ; One: Equiano's World: The British Atlantic Empire in 1763 ; Two: Richard's Cup: Slavery and the Coming of the Revolution ; Three: The Transformation of Colonel Tye: Black Combatants and the War ; Four: Quok Walker's Suit: Emancipation in the North ; Five: Absalom's "Meritorious Service": Antislavery in the Upper South ; Six: Captain Vesey's Cargo: Continuity in Georgia and the Carolinas ; Seven: Mum Bett Takes a Name: The Emergence of Free Black Communities ; Eight: Harry Washington's Atlantic Crossings: The Migrations of Black Loyalists ; Nine: A Suspicion Only: Racism in the Early Republic ; Ten: Eli Whitney's Cotton Engine: Expansion and Rebellion ; Epilogue: General Gabriel's Flag: Unsuccessful Coda to the Revolution ; Notes

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Trade ReviewClearly, White Mens Magic is an ingenious, sophisticated piece of work. * Anthony G. Reddie, Theology *Table of ContentsPrologue ; Chapter One: "...unbounded influence over the credulity and superstition of the people...": Magic as Slavery, Slavery as Magic ; Chapter Two: "...the white men had some spell or magic...": A Black Stranger's First Contact with White Men's Magic ; Chapter Three: "...every person there read the Bible...": Scripturalization as Matrix of White Men's Magic ; Chapter Four: "...to the Britons first...the Gospel is preached...": Scripturalization in the Nationalization of White Men's Magic ; Chapter Five: "...in the Bible, I saw things new...": Scripturalization and the Mimetics of White Men's Magic ; Chapter Six: "...take the book...and tell God to make them dead...": Scripturalization as White Men's Hegemony ; Chapter Seven: "I could read it for myself": Scripturalization, Slavery, and Agency ; Epilogue ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisEuropeans, Africans, and American Indians practiced slavery long before the first purchase of a captive African by a white land-owner in the American colonies; that, however, is the image of slavery most prevalent in the minds of Americans today. This Very Short Introduction begins with the Portuguese capture of Africans in the 1400s and traces the development of American slavery until its abolition following the Civil War. Historian Heather Andrea Williams draws upon the rich recent scholarship of numerous highly-regarded academics as well as an analysis of primary documents to explore the history of slavery and its effects on the American colonies and later the United States of America. Williams examines legislation that differentiated American Indians and Africans from Europeans as the ideology of white supremacy flourished and became an ingrained feature of the society. These laws reflected the contradiction of America''s moral and philosophical ideology that valorized freedom on one hand and justified the enslavement of a population deemed inferior on another. She explores the tense and often violent relationships between the enslaved and the enslavers, and between abolitionists and pro-slavery advocates as those who benefited from the institution fought to maintain and exert their power. Williams is attentive to the daily labors that enslaved people performed, reminding readers that slavery was a system of forced labor with economic benefits that produced wealth for a new nation, all the while leaving an indelible mark on its history.Trade ReviewWilliam's study provides a concise overview of many of the key issues and topics surrounding the nature of American slavery * Review in History *Table of ContentsCHAPTER 1-OLD WORLDS COLLIDE THROUGH THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE; CHAPTER 2-PUTTING SLAVERY INTO PLACE IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES; CHAPTER 3-EARLY CHALLENGES TO SLAVERY IN AMERICA; CHAPTER 4-AMERICA BUILT ON SLAVERY; CHAPTER 5-MAKING LIFE BEARABLE; CHAPTER 6-DOMINATION AND RESISTANCE; CHAPTER 7-TAKING SLAVERY APART; EPILOGUE

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Book SynopsisThis book profiles the port of Charles Town, South Carolina, during the two-year period leading up to the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on the dramatic hanging and burning of Thomas Jeremiah, a free black harbor pilot and firefighter accused by the patriot party of plotting a slave insurrection during the tumultous spring and summer of 1775. To examine the world of this wealthy, slave-holding African American through his trial and execution, William R. Ryan uses a wide array of letters, naval records, personal and official correspondence, memoirs, and newspapers. He shows that the black majority of the South Carolina Low Country managed to assist the British in their invasion efforts, despite patriot attempts to frighten Afro-Carolinians into passivity and submission. Although Whigs attempted, through brutality and violence, to keep their slaves from participating in the conflict, Afro-Carolinians became actively involved in the struggle between colonists and the Crown as spiTrade ReviewRyan has created a work that gets to the heart of revolutionary movements. His study reveals the divisions and social stresses in the southern colonies, delves into the psychology of slaveholders in pre-revolutionary Charleston, highlights the dilemmas of the free and enslaved laborers in the Low Country of South Carolina, and determines the motivations of those who participated in the Revolution. As such, it will be of interest to sociologists, political scientists, cultural studies scholars, and historians alike. * Journal of Interdisciplinary History *There have been a number of books published about colonial and revolutionary South Carolina. However, not since Richard Walsh's Charleston's Sons of Liberty (1959) has a scholar so effectively dealt with the city's underclasses and their relationship with the colony's ruling elite. Ryan not only enters the world of Thomas Jeremiah effectively, but he convinces the reader that Jeremiah and his world had a tremendous impact on the wealthiest elite in colonial America. * Walter B. Edgar, University of South Carolina *This is an important, interesting, informative, well researched, and well-conceived book. It is concrete, using sources which bring the early years of the American Revolution in and near Charleston to life. It has several important strengths. It leaves the usual New England focus behind. It emphasizes the racial, class, and regional dimensions of the American Revolution in the Southeast, emphasizing the strength of Afro-Americans within the context of demography and their maritime skills, especially as pilots in treacherous and ever changing channels and harbor entrances. * Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Rutgers University *Recommended. * CHOICE *The great strengths of this book lie in the provocative issues raised but left unresolved and in the reminder that the revolutionary era offered...new opportunities to challenge both the institution of chattel bondage and the allied structures of white supremacy. * Journal of American History *Table of ContentsPreface ; Introduction: A Different Port of Entry ; Ch 1: White Divisions (June 1774-March 1775) ; Ch 2: A Great War Coming (April 1775-June 1775) ; Ch 3: Under the Color of Law (July 1775-August 1775) ; Ch 4: Charles Town Harbor (September 1775-October 1775) ; Ch 5: Lowcountry/Backcountry: The Volatile Geopolitics of Revolutionary South Carolina (November 1775-December 1775) ; Ch 6: The Greatest Hope and the Deepest Fear (December 1775-January 1776) ; Ch 7: The Masters were Still in Charge (January 1776-August 1776) ; Conclusion: Simple Spectators? ; Epilogue ; Appendix I: Documents Relating to the Trials and Execution of Thomas Jeremiah ; Appendix II: Documents Relating to the Slave Shadwell and the Free Black Scipio Handley

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Book SynopsisTwenty-five years after its original publication, Oxford has released a new edition of Sterling Stuckey''s ground-breaking study, Slave Culture. A leading cultural historian and authority on slavery, Stuckey explains how different African peoples interacted on the plantations of the South to achieve a common culture. He argues that at the time of emancipation, slaves still remained essentially African in culture, a conclusion that has had profound implications for theories of black liberation and race relations in America.Drawing evidence from the anthropology and art history of Central and West African cultural traditions and exploring the folklore of the American slave, Stuckey reveals an intrinsic Pan-African impulse that contributed to the formation of the black ethos in slavery. He presents fascinating profiles of such nineteenth-century figures as David Walker, Henry Highland Garnet, and Frederick Douglass, as well as detailed examinations into the lives and careers of W.E.B. Du Trade ReviewA splendid addition to the rich literature on the lives of blacks under slavery. * The Philadelphia Inquirer *Table of ContentsForeword by John Stauffer ; 1. Introduction: Slavery and the Circle of Culture ; 2. David Walker: In Defense of African Rights and Liberty ; 3. Henry HIghland Garnet: Nationalism, Class Analysis, and Revolution ; 4. Identity and Ideology: The Names Controversy ; 5. W.E.B. Du Bois: Black Cultural Reality and the Meaning of Freedom ; 6. On Being African: Paul Robeson and the Ends of Nationalist Theory and Practice ; Notes ; Index

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Book SynopsisA selection of 19th-century Barbary Coast captivity narratives. The accounts range from 1798 to 1904 and tell the stories of enslaved white Americans, whose plight became fodder for pro- and anti-slavery writers.

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Book SynopsisExplores both the material culture of slavery as well as its representation in literature. This book considers the place of slaves in Plato's Meno, Aristotle's Politics, Aesop's Fables, Aristophanes' Wasps, and Euripides' Orestes.Trade Review"[This] timely and passionate book reinstates slaves at the center of the ancient household and psyche.... Page duBois has certainly achieved her stated goal in making it far more difficult for classicists anywhere to avoid looking ancient slaves in the face when examining the artifacts, literature, and thought of the societies which denied them liberty." - Edith Hall, Times Literary Supplement"

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Book SynopsisExplores both the material culture of slavery as well as its representation in literature. This book considers the place of slaves in Plato's Meno, Aristotle's Politics, Aesop's Fables, Aristophanes' Wasps, and Euripides' Orestes.Trade Review"[This] timely and passionate book reinstates slaves at the center of the ancient household and psyche.... Page duBois has certainly achieved her stated goal in making it far more difficult for classicists anywhere to avoid looking ancient slaves in the face when examining the artifacts, literature, and thought of the societies which denied them liberty." - Edith Hall, Times Literary Supplement"

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Book SynopsisRunaway slave Sojourner Truth gained fame in the nineteenth century as an abolitionist, feminist, and orator and earned a living partly by selling cartes de visite of herself at lectures and by mail. This book explores how she used her image, the press, the postal service, and copyright laws to support her activism and herself.

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Book SynopsisShows the deep, broad, and continuous influence of slavery on America's fear and loathing of taxes. This book reveals how the heated battles over taxation, the power to tax, and the distribution of tax burdens were rooted not in debates over personal liberty but rather in the rights of slaveholders to hold human beings as property.Trade Review"For those seeking to understand complex and ever-changing systems of taxation, their relationship to local and national politics, and how the state and local systems were shaped by the 'peculiar institution,' this seminal and innovative investigation will provide many answers." - Loren Schweninger, American Historical Review "[Einhorn] tells what might have been a complicated story in an engaging and accessible manner. It is her contention that slavery and the reaction to it to a great extent shaped the kind of nation we are today, because it shaped the kind of tax policies we constructed to fund the kind of government we got.... Required reading for anyone who ponders the impact of slavery on our lives today." - James Srodes, Washington Times"

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