| Description |
xix, 151 pages, 15 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Series |
The African American history series |
|
African American history series (Lanham, Md.)
|
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Summary |
Explores the complex world of those people of African birth or descent who occupied the "borderlands" between slavery and freedom in the 350 years from the founding of the first European colonies in what is today the United States to the start of the Civil War. However they had navigated their way out of bondage--through flight, through military service, through self-purchase, through the working of the law in different times and in different places, or because they were the offspring of parents who were themselves free--they were determined to enjoy the same rights and liberties that white people enjoyed. In a concise narrative and selected primary documents, noted historian Julie Winch shows the struggle of black people to gain and maintain their liberty and lay claim to freedom in its fullest sense. Refusing to be relegated to the margins of American society and languish in poverty and ignorance, they repeatedly challenged their white neighbors to live up to the promises of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.--From publisher description. |
| Contents |
Introduction: On liberty's borderlands -- Property or persons : black freedom in colonial America, 1513-1770 -- In liberty's cause : black freedom in revolutionary America, 1770-1790 -- Race, liberty and citizenship in the new nation, 1790-1820 -- "We will have our rights" : redefining black freedom, 1820-1850 -- "No rights which the white man was bound to respect": black freedom and black citizenship, 1850-1861 -- Epilogue: Black freedom, white freedom. |
|
Introduction: On liberty's borderlands ; Timeline -- Property or persons : black freedom in colonial America, 1513-1770 -- In liberty's cause : black freedom in Revolutionary America, 1770-1790 -- Race, liberty and citizenship in the new nation, 1790-1820 -- "We will have our rights" : redefining black freedom, 1820-1850 -- "No rights which the white man was bound to respect": black freedom and black citizenship, 1850-1861 -- Documents: [Laws on black freedom in Colonial Virginia and Massachusetts ; Passing as free (1736-1773) ; Free black people in Colonial Pennsylvania and Rhode Island (1751-1770) ; Free people of color in the South Carolina press (1760-1771) ; Petitioning for freedom in New Hampshire (1779) ; Richard Allen buys his freedom (1780) ; Benjamin Banneker's challenge to Thomas Jefferson (1791) ; African Americans petition Congress (1799) ; Free people of color in New Orleans react to the Louisiana Purchase (1804) ; Black voting rights in New York (1810) ; African-American cultural and religious life in Baltimore (1810) ; Protesting discriminatory legislation in Pennsylvania (1813) ; Protesting African colonization (1817) ; Schooling black children in the nation's capital (1818) ; South Carolina's black code (1822) ; The birth of the black press (1827) ; David Walker on the nature of black freedom (1829) ; An African-American shipowner visits Charleston (ca. 1830) ; Maria W. Stewart's speeches (1832-1833) ; Free blacks in business in Antebellum America ; On the impact of prejudice (1837) ; Kidnappers (1840-1841) ; Class differences among Antebellum black Philadelphians (1841) ; The antislavery cause and guilt by association (1843) ; A black Southerner's experiences in New York (ca. 1845) ; Tribute to a civic leader in California (1848) ; Martin R. Delany on African-American emigration (1852) ; Segregation on public transportation (1854) ; Black life in Charleston (1857) ; John S. Rock on the likelihood of war (1858) ; Using wealth to buy political influence (1858) ; "Being a citizen of the United States" (1858)] |
| Subject |
Free African Americans -- History.
|
|
Free African Americans -- Social conditions.
|
|
Free African Americans -- Attitudes -- History.
|
|
United States -- Race relations -- History.
|
| ISBN |
9780742551145 cloth alk. paper |
|
0742551148 cloth alk. paper |
|
9780742551152 electronic |
|
0742551156 electronic |
|
