In the shadow of slavery : African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863

Title:

Author:

Harris, Leslie M. (Leslie Maria), 1965- author.

ISBN:

9780226824857

9780226824871

Personal Author:

Harris, Leslie M. (Leslie Maria), 1965- author.

Edition:

[First edition, enlarged].

Physical Description:

xii, 383 pages ; illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.

Series:

Historical studies of urban America

Historical studies of urban America.

General Note:

Source of cataloging data: WCP

Abstract:

"The first edition of Leslie Harris's book was pathbreaking in arguing for the centrality of African Americans' contributions to the formation of New York City, including the slave labor that helped build it. From the first Dutch settlement up to the Civil War Draft Riots, Harris captures in rich detail how Black New Yorkers fought racist laws and practices, argued for better working and living conditions, and advocated for abolition. Her narrative of community formation encompasses people of all classes and professions, from ministers and businessmen to chimney sweeps and stevedores. Today, her depiction of Black New Yorkers' strivings is vital for understanding resistance and solidarity against today's oppressions"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Slavery in Colonial New York -- The Struggle against Slavery in Revolutionary and Early National New York -- Creating a Free Black Community in New York City during the Era of Emancipation -- Free but Unequal: The Limits of Emancipation -- Keeping Body and Soul Together: Charity Workers and Black Activism in Postemancipation New York City -- The Long Shadow of Southern Slavery: Radical Abolitionists and Black Political Activism against Slavery and Racism -- "Pressing Forward to Greater Perfection": Radical Abolitionists, Black Labor, and Black Working-Class Activism after 1840 -- "Rulers of the Five Points": Blacks, Irish Immigrants, and Amalgamation -- The Failures of the City.

Subject Term:

African Americans -- New York (State) -- New York -- History.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
Searching... Sugar Grove - Todd Library	Book	F128.9 .B53 H37 2023	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

A new edition of a classic work revealing the little-known history of African Americans in New York City before Emancipation.

The popular understanding of the history of slavery in America almost entirely ignores the institution's extensive reach in the North. But the cities of the North were built by--and became the home of--tens of thousands of enslaved African Americans, many of whom would continue to live there as free people after Emancipation.

In the Shadow of Slavery reveals the history of African Americans in the nation's largest metropolis, New York City. Leslie M. Harris draws on travel accounts, autobiographies, newspapers, literature, and organizational records to extend prior studies of racial discrimination. She traces the undeniable impact of African Americans on class distinctions, politics, and community formation by offering vivid portraits of the lives and aspirations of countless black New Yorkers. This new edition includes an afterword by the author addressing subsequent research and the ongoing arguments over how slavery and its legacy should be taught, memorialized, and acknowledged by governments.

Reviews (2)

Choice Review

Harris (Emory Univ.) surveys African American life in New York City (NYC) from the arrival of the first slaves in 1626 to the tragedy of the 1863 Draft Riot, providing a unique perspective on the interaction between NYC's white and African American populations and arguing that historians have overlooked the important role that African Americans played in the formation of the city's working class. By demonstrating how whites used enslaved and free blacks as a means of self-definition, the author makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of urban life and class formation. Most historians familiar with slavery in NYC will find little new information in the first three chapters, but those with an interest in the formation of race- and class-based communities will find sections of the book invaluable. By examining the often problematic interaction of whites and African Americans, Harris's work serves as a companion to Graham R. Hodges's Root & Branch: African Americans in New York & East Jersey (CH, Feb'00) and Shane White's Stories of Freedom in Black New York (CH, May'03). Exploring an overlooked historical process, Harris sheds light on aspects of everyday life that in the future all historians of NYC and slavery must address. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. All levels and libraries. T. D. Beal SUNY College at Oneonta

Library Journal Review

Over the past few years, historians have been unearthing and reconstructing the once hidden lives of African Americans in northern cities. Harris (history, Emory Univ.) extends other recent work by looking closely at class formation within the black communities in larger New York, beginning with the arrival of the first slaves in 1626 and concluding in 1863, and showing how class identity and interest figured prominently in the rapidly changing worlds of work that mattered to blacks and whites in New York. Harris's book does not rewrite the new history of African American life and culture in northern cities during the Colonial through antebellum periods, but it does reveal that black (and white) lives were more varied and complicated than stereotypes would have them. Recommended for academic libraries.-Randall M. Miller, Saint Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.