| Edition |
First edition. |
| Description |
354 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-331) and index. |
| Contents |
Prologue: Summer 1832: Norfolk, Virginia -- The battle engaged -- The birth of the Kidnapping Club and the rebirth of Manhattan -- New York divided -- New York, a port in the slave trade -- Policing and criminalizing the Black community -- Economic panic -- No end in sight -- New York and the transatlantic slave trade -- "Blessed be cotton!": the fugitive slave law and New York City -- The Portuguese Company -- New York and secession -- Civil war -- Epilogue: The hidden past and reparations due. |
| Summary |
"Although slavery was outlawed in the northern states in 1827, the illegal slave trade continued in the one place modern readers would least expect, the streets and ports of America's great northern metropolis: New York City. In 'The Kidnapping Club,' historian Jonathan Daniel Wells takes readers to a rapidly changing city rife with contradiction, where social hierarchy clashed with a rising middle class, Black citizens jostled for an equal voice in politics and culture, and women of all races eagerly sought roles outside the home. It is during this time that the city witnessed an alarming trend: a number of free and fugitive Black men, women, and children were being kidnapped into slavery. The group responsible, known as the Kidnapping Club, was a frighteningly effective network of judges, lawyers, police officers, and bankers who circumvented northern anti-slavery laws by sanctioning the kidnapping of free Black Americans--selling them into markets in the South, South America, and the Caribbean, for vast sums of wealth. David Ruggles, a Black journalist and abolitionist, worked tirelessly to bring their injustices to light -- risking his own freedom in the process and ultimately exposing the vast system of corruption that made New York City rich. A searing and dramatic history, 'The Kidnapping Club' upends the myth of an abolitionist North at odds with a slavery-loving South. It is a powerful and resonant account of the ties between slavery and capitalism, the deeply corrupt roots of policing in America, and the strength of Black activism"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Subject |
Kidnapping victims. (OCoLC)fst00987328
|
| Genre/Form |
History.
|
| Subject |
Ruggles, David, 1810-1849. (OCoLC)fst00248801
|
|
Slavery. (OCoLC)fst01120426
|
|
New York Kidnapping Club (Gang) -- History.
|
|
Free African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- History -- 19th century.
|
|
Free African Americans -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 19th century.
|
|
Ruggles, David, 1810-1849.
|
|
Slavery -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
|
|
New York (State) -- New York.
(OCoLC)fst01204333
|
| Local Subject |
Trafficking in enslaved persons -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
|
| Subject |
Fugitive slaves -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
|
|
Kidnapping victims -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 19th century.
|
|
Free African Americans. (OCoLC)fst00933834
|
|
Slave trade -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
|
|
Kidnapping victims -- United States -- History -- 19th century.
|
| Genre/Form |
History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
|
| Subject |
Slave trade. (OCoLC)fst01120405
|
|
Fugitive slaves. (OCoLC)fst00935940
|
| Chronological Term |
1800-1899
|
| Subject |
United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
|
|
Fugitive slaves -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 19th century.
|
| Added Title |
Wall Street, slavery, and resistance on the eve of the Civil War |
| ISBN |
9781568587523 (hardcover) |
|
156858752X (hardcover) |
|
9781645037118 (e-book) |
|
