In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863"The black experience in the antebellum South has been thoroughly documented. But histories set in the North are few. In the Shadow of Slavery, then, is a big and ambitious book, one in which insights about race and class in New York City abound. Leslie Harris has masterfully brought more than two centuries of African American history back to life in this illuminating new work."—David Roediger, author of The Wages of Whiteness In 1991 in lower Manhattan, a team of construction workers made an astonishing discovery. Just two blocks from City Hall, under twenty feet of asphalt, concrete, and rubble, lay the remains of an eighteenth-century "Negro Burial Ground." Closed in 1790 and covered over by roads and buildings throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the site turned out to be the largest such find in North America, containing the remains of as many as 20,000 African Americans. The graves revealed to New Yorkers and the nation an aspect of American history long hidden: the vast number of enslaved blacks who labored to create our nation's largest city. In the Shadow of Slavery lays bare this history of African Americans in New York City, starting with the arrival of the first slaves in 1626, moving through the turbulent years before emancipation in 1827, and culminating in one of the most terrifying displays of racism in U.S. history, the New York City Draft Riots of 1863. Drawing on extensive travel accounts, autobiographies, newspapers, literature, and organizational records, Leslie M. Harris extends beyond prior studies of racial discrimination by tracing the undeniable impact of African Americans on class, politics, and community formation and by offering vivid portraits of the lives and aspirations of countless black New Yorkers. Written with clarity and grace, In the Shadow of Slavery is an ambitious new work that will prove indispensable to historians of the African American experience, as well as anyone interested in the history of New York City. |
What people are saying - Write a review
Reviews aren't verified, but Google checks for and removes fake content when it's identified
In the shadow of slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictOver 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 ... Read full review
User Review - Flag as inappropriate
Great.
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
1 Slavery in Colonial New York | 11 |
2 The Struggle against Slavery in Revolutionary and Early National New York | 48 |
3 Creating a Free Black Community in New York City during the Era of Emancipation | 72 |
The Limits of Emancipation | 96 |
Charity Workers and Black Activism in Postemancipation New York City | 134 |
Radical Abolitionists and Black Political Activism against Slavery and Racism | 170 |
Radical Abolitionists Black Labor and Black WorkingClass Activism after 1840 | 217 |
Other editions - View all
In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863 Leslie M. Harris Limited preview - 2004 |
In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863 Leslie M. Harris No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
ABCO abolitionists activities African American Annual antislavery Association Asylum attempted became believed black and white black community black workers Book British celebration Church City’s colony Colored Committee condition continued convention Cornish court cultural discussion domestic Dutch early economic emancipation encouraged enslaved equality established European families fears first Five Points founded free blacks freedom fugitive held important improve included increased indentured independent interracial John July labor land limited lived majority male managers manual Manumission Society masters meeting middle-class moral Negro New-York North occupations organization Orphan owners parents participation particularly period Peter political population Quakers race racial radical Record reformers religious Report riots role Root servants skilled slavery slaves Smith social southern status Street Tappan tion trade United vote women working-class York City York’s
Popular passages
Page 347 - A | Journal | of the | Proceedings | in | The Detection of the Conspiracy | formed by | Some White People, in Conjunction with Negro and other Slaves, | for | Burning the City of New- York in America, | And Murdering the Inhabitants.
Page 347 - The Trial of Amos Broad and his Wife, on three several Indictments for Assaulting and Beating Betty, a Slave, and her little Female Child Sarah, Aged Three Years...
Page 379 - The New York Society for promoting the Manumission of Slaves, and protecting such of them as have been or may be liberated...
Page 346 - ALMSHOUSE, vs. Alexander Whistelo, a black man ; being a remarkable case of bastardy, tried and adjudged by the mayor, recorder, and several aldermen, of the city of New York...
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863 ACLS Humanities E-Book Historical Studies of Urban America, ISSN 2578-0948 |
| Author | Leslie M. Harris |
| Contributor | American Council of Learned Societies |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press, 2003 |
| ISBN | 0226317749, 9780226317748 |
| Length | 380 pages |
| Subjects | › › › History / General History / United States / Colonial Period (1600-1775) History / United States / State & Local / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |