Amazon.com
New York Burning is a well-told tale of a once-notorious episode that took place in Manhattan in 1741. Though, as Jill Lepore writes, New York's "slave past has long been buried," for most of the 18th century one in five inhabitants of Manhattan were enslaved, making it second only to Charleston, South Carolina, "in a wretched calculus of urban unfreedom." Over the course of a few weeks in 1741, ten fires burned across Manhattan, sparking hysteria and numerous conspiracy rumors. Initially, rival politicians blamed each other for the blazes, but they soon found a common enemy. Based solely on the testimony of one white woman, some 200 slaves were accused of conspiring to burn down the city, murder the resident whites, and take over the local government. Under duress, 80 slaves confessed to the crimes and were forced to implicate others. When the trial was over, 13 black men were burned at the stake, 17 more were hanged (along with four whites accused of working with them), and 70 others were shipped off to the Caribbean where slavery conditions were even worse.
By necessity, Jill Lepore bases much of her research on a journal written in 1744 by New York Supreme Court Justice Daniel Horsmanden, which she describes as "one of the most startling and vexing documents in early American history" and "a diary, a mystery, a history, and maybe one of English literature's first detective stories." Adding cultural and political context to the available evidence, Lepore questions whether there was a conspiracy at all, or if it was blind fear run amok that led to the guilty verdicts for so many slaves. As she points out, fear of slave revolt was a real and consistent theme throughout the early days of the colonies. Crisply written and meticulously researched (the book includes several detailed appendices), New York Burning is a gripping narrative of events that led to what one colonist referred to as the "bonfires of the Negroes." --Shawn Carkonen
Book Description
Pulitzer Prize Finalist
Anisfield-Wolf Award Winner
Over a frigid few weeks in the winter of 1741, ten fires blazed across Manhattan. With each new fire, panicked whites saw more evidence of a slave uprising. In the end, thirteen black men were burned at the stake, seventeen were hanged and more than one hundred black men and women were thrown into a dungeon beneath City Hall.
In New York Burning, Bancroft Prize-winning historian Jill Lepore recounts these dramatic events, re-creating, with path-breaking research, the nascent New York of the seventeenth century. Even then, the city was a rich mosaic of cultures, communities and colors, with slaves making up a full one-fifth of the population. Exploring the political and social climate of the times, Lepore dramatically shows how, in a city rife with state intrigue and terror, the threat of black rebellion united the white political pluralities in a frenzy of racial fear and violence.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Research on Taboo Subject.......2007-10-16
I was, and am still, astounded by the in-depth knowledge that Ms. Lepore manages to uncover page after page of this remarkable revelation of New York racial history at its "rawest". For all those who believed like me that New York City in the 18th centruy was the golden gate to slave refuge -- that which protected runaways from their brutal and inhumane treatment of the southern plantation owners, they too will be equally as shocked, as was I, to find the opposite to be the gut churning truth.
As unconscionable as it may seem, African flesh was reguarly burned at the stake in the middle of the New York City streets to the entertaiment of audiences of highbrowed whites. Such was the unequivocal right of swift justice that was to be handed down to those enslaved for even the mere notion of a slave revolt.
If Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (The History of New York City)]] is/ was an intriguing read to you then "New York Burning" may also lend spark to that flame of interest as well. Great work.
A wealth of Research and a vivid narrative kept me spellbound!!!.......2007-08-15
This is not a book to read in one night--in this book one bookmarks certain pages, and refers back to those pages, with satisfaction and an ever growing understanding of these times and the people who inhabited Manhattan back then.
Exceptional research (the footnotes and the Appendix far from being dull and dry discourse, add to the wealth of knowledge and narrative contained in the body of the book) brings to life the character and personalities of those implicated in the plot as well as those who supported, judged or cross-examined them. This book also brings to the fore the incredible racism in Manhattan at that time -- apparently one out of every 5 individuals there was a slave.
Add to this an analysis of slave trade and daily life in the 18th century Manhattan, of the party systems and favoritism and British Rule, with and without the usual checks and balances, as well as a new nation trying to stand on its own, plus insight into the lives of Peter Zenger and Benjamin Franklin--this is a "cast of hundreds" with great "supporting actors and actresses".
As I read through this book I had many occasions to refer to the 2 excellent maps at the front of the book, which helped support the narrative and lend more understanding of the lay of the land in Manhattan back then. I never knew Manhattan's water was so polluted (even back then in the "early days" of the city), and Ms Lepore does a through job of describing that which actually figured prominently into the "fuel" for this ("The Negro Plot") rebellion -- the water sources where the slaves would gather to draw tea water for their masters. I was also surprised - as I looked at these 18th century maps -- to see how much has now been added to the island of Manhattan in modern times by landfill.
The book begins with a clandestine feast attended by the slaves, (some of whom were quite literate -- all of whom, taken from many parts of Africa Spain and the Barbados to be treated as nothing more than expendable chattel, were dissatisfied to one extent or another with the way they were treated) and Dr Lepore keeps bringing us back to this feast, with its sworn secrecy, oaths and threats -- many times in the book, as it is the pivot point from which the alleged slaves' "Negro Plot" to burn New York and kill their masters was hatched, and is the background from which the accusations against them, and their eventual death sentences sprang .
The slaves' trial, which to many seemed a hurried sham, was covered in great detail -- as were the accusations, some of which contradicted instead of accusing, which led to the deaths / transporting or discharging of so many of those slaves, many of whom may have been unjustly accused, hurriedly sentenced, and gotten rid of in various and terrible ways. And finally-- Mary Burton's quest for freedom (with Horsemanden trying to help her achieve her goal), Horsemanden's detailed narrative of this whole affair, and the a finely crafted and well-written mysterious letter delivered to the judges after the trial, bring a fitting climax to the book.....with many unanswered questions however.
The judicial system in the colonies back then, as well as the prevalent attitudes exhibited towards slaves by whites and clerics alike, and the great hatred (and the acceptance and promulgation of such hatred) exhibited at this trial, of anything that smacked of Papacy, is also a head-turner.
Many questions about this incident and the complex times surrounding it are still unanswered -- many questions will remain unanswered. But thanks to Jill Lepore's intense scrutiny, research and highly complex rendition of these people and their circumstances, these long-dead and mostly unknown slaves and their colleagues become flesh and blood history, as do their accusers and prosecutors.
Informative, educational and supportive illustrations are found peppered throughout the book. I would have liked more details, such as illustrations and/or web sites, pertaining to the Negros Burial Ground, especially as it concerns the present. Dr Lepore treats the subject of the Negroes Burial ground and its hallowed inhabitants with proper reverence; perhaps a book can be written about this in the near future.
Search for Scapegoats.......2006-06-08
Jill Lepore's "New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan" is a valuable and admirable examination of one of the darkest episodes in New York's history: the so-called slave rebellion of 1741 and the brutal vengeance that was extracted. Professor Lepore's painstaking research confronts the reader with a terrible conclusion: even the most respectable of people in society will consent to the deaths of human beings, based on even the tiniest shreds of evidence.
Focusing primarily on the actions of Daniel Horsmanden, the City's Recorder, Lepore provides the reader with a background on the attitudes of New York's whites toward their slaves. She makes clear that Gotham was neither the first nor only city to have witnessed slave uprisings. (It had suffered a similar uprising a couple of decades earlier.) But the events of 1741 were unique for several reasons:
--the shifting finger-pointing at various groups;
--the inconsistency of Mary Burton's testimony, which essentially was the case against several slaves;and
--Horsmanden's bizarre behavior toward Mary Burton.
Admittedly, I've only superficially studied this dark time in New York's history, so I was shocked to learn that there were actually several "conspiracies": the Negro Plot, Hughson's Plot, the Spanish Plot, the Roman Plot, etc. Each plot was hatched depending on who confessed to what. Worst of all, the white population of New York--fueled by racism, xenophobia, paranoia, and, not the least of all, bloodlust--went right along with it. And, with the exception of an intriguing anonymous letter from Massachussetts, it seems the rest of the colonies went along with it, too. While Horsmanden is just short of villified in this book, he is not alone in his culpability.
Professor Lapore's "New York Burning" will disturb many readers. The accounts of the slaves and the few whites burning, hanging, begging, and praying are graphic and heartbreaking. Still, this in an incredibly important book for anyone interested in the history of our nation and/or the all-too-tragic fragility of race relations in America. For this, Professor Lapore deserves our appreciation
An 18th century conspiracy by slaves to destroy New York City.......2006-01-10
Jill Lepore's New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery And Conspiracy In 18th Century Manhattan receives a vivid reading by Beth McDonald and tells of an 18th century conspiracy by slaves to destroy New York City: a history nearly forgotten were it not for this vivid story. Audio brings the story to life in a way the written word is hard-pressed to compete with as it recreates events and rationale.
A Forgotten Example of the Past Ubiquity and Unfairness of Slavery.......2005-11-29
During the American Revolution, Samuel Johnson, who was unfailingly able to spot paradoxes and express them forcefully, asked, "How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?" It took almost a hundred more years for the paradoxes of slavery to be abandoned in America, but it had been business as usual in America for centuries. The New York of the mid-eighteenth century was dependent on slave labor, as was everywhere in the New World. There were New Yorkers even then who worried that slavery was wrong, but there were others who worried that the slaves were going to rise up in insurrection, as they had in the South and in the Caribbean. Thus, when there was a rash of fires in New York in 1741, it was easy to suspect a conspiracy conducted by black slaves. In _New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan_ (Knopf), historian Jill Lepore has focused on a forgotten and shameful episode in American history. There are few documents surviving from the incident, and many of those that Lepore has been able to consult were written by authors that were justifying themselves in the events. The account compiled here, however, is convincing and is as close to historical truth about the incident as we are likely to get. What's more, it is a vivid picture of Manhattan life two and a half centuries ago.
The first major fire of 1741 erupted in Fort George, near the Battery. There was another one seven days afterwards, and then another seven days after that. Lepore describes a history of conspiracy theories blaming religious sects, political factions, or Indians for different outrages before the fires, but once the fires started, it was not long before suspicion fell on the city's slaves. It is hard to tell just how much of a plot there was, but there certainly was not the intricate fomentings of the eventual 200 slave suspects. The initial arson and conspiracy charges were based almost completely upon questionable testimony. The legal system was not well equipped to handle infractions by slaves, as their owners had responsibility for determining guilt and administering punishment for most offenses. The Colonial Supreme Court Justice Daniel Horsmanden was sure he could detect guilt merely by looking at black faces. The first slaves found guilty were sentenced to being burned at the stake, and were talked into fingering other conspirators so that they could simply be hanged instead of being tortured by fire. They were treated unfairly even in this; after naming names, they still were burned alive. In the midst of the judicial process, and after thirty executions, Horsmanden decided that slaves did not have mental capacity to plan such a conspiracy. The handiest explanation was that it was a Catholic plot. In the end, 80 of the 152 blacks who were arrested and charged confessed to conspiracy charges, and thirteen were burned at the stake, with seventeen more hanged, with their decomposing bodies put on exhibition as warnings. Others were sold off into worse slavery in the Caribbean. The four alleged white ringleaders were hanged (burning was administered only to blacks).
Lepore cannot tell how much of a true conspiracy there was. The main initial witness whom Horsmanden had used as a foundation for further prosecution was thought completely credible as long as she kept identifying slaves in the conspiracy, but her subsequent testimony about the participation of gentlemen in ruffles and wigs was not believed, although it did not make Horsmanden doubt what had gone before. New Yorkers began to insult the witness on the street, yelling at her, "There was no plot!" Thus the doubts about a conspiracy were present even while slaves were being killed for it, but Lepore makes the case that political conflict between the Court and Country Parties helped fuel conspiracy fears. She writes that a slave conspiracy was "like a political party, only more sinister." There are countless descriptions of life in the city; who would have suspected, for instance, that New Yorkers once cursed the clamorous tree toads for their racket, which drowned out the songs of birds? Lepore's recreation of the place and time is constantly interesting, and her account of yet one more instance of the monstrosities involved in slave-keeping brings useful attention to a forgotten story.
Book Description
In 1741, New York City was thrown into an uproar when a sixteen-year-old white woman, an indentured servant named Mary Burton, testified that she was privy to a monstrous conspiracy against the white people of Manhattan. Promised her freedom by authorities if she would only uncover the plot, Mary reported that the black men of the city were planning to burn New York City to the ground. As the courts ensnared more and more suspects and violence swept the city, 154 black New Yorkers were jailed, 14 were burned alive, 18 were hanged, and more than 100 simply “disappeared”; four whites wound up being executed and 24 imprisoned. Even as the madness escalated, however, officials started to realize that Mary Burton might not be telling the truth.
Expertly written by the acclaimed author of Drop and Hunting in Harlem, The Great Negro Plot is a brilliant reconstruction of a little-known moment in American history whose echoes still reverberate today.
Customer Reviews:
Paranoia, Panic, and Pain!.......2007-02-19
Mat Johnson delves into an embryonic era of Colonial American history with his latest offering, The Great Negro Plot: A Tale of Conspiracy and Murder in Eighteenth-Century New York. The non-fictional title implies a stoic tome, but surprisingly the author infuses a fresh voice and contemporary observations into the telling of fateful events that occurred some 266 years ago.
The recipe for this 1741 episode of madness is a combination of several ill-timed events: a rumor of arson among townsfolk based on the frequency and strategic pattern of "random" fires erupting throughout the city; a recently discovered thievery ring headed by a none-too-swift white tavern owner, John Hughson, who is "knowingly friendly" with slaves; and a haunting memory of a 1712 Slave Revolt where slaves used burning buildings as bait to lure the Caucasian members of the fire brigade into a fatal ambush. When Hughson is arrested, his imaginative teen-aged "spinster" housemaid, Mary Burton, becomes witness for the prosecution.
Fueled by both an unjust, flawed legal system and racist paranoia, Burton's testimony is heavily tainted by the prosecution and seals the fate of many innocent people, the overwhelming majority who were slaves. The "trial" was huge. Likened in popularity to the modern-day O.J. Simpson murder case, it lasted for months energized by the anticipated public executions (which also served as a form of entertainment) held expeditiously after sentencing. The madness finally subdues when Mary Burton misses her cue and implies that members of New York's elite society were involved. Coincidentally, it is about the same time that white slave owners grew weary of their most prized and expensive possessions (slaves) being withheld from work and destroyed at the expense of their purse, shrinking profit-margins, and public amusement. In the end, 154 slaves and freedmen were jailed, 14 burned alive, 18 hanged and 100 disappeared. Of the whites involved, 24 were imprisoned and four were executed; Hughson, his wife, a known prostitute (who also was "knowingly friendly" with slaves), and an estranged newcomer.
Using actual court documents and the court recorder diaries, Johnson reconstructs a detailed time line against a realistic backdrop cleverly inserting the social mores, political climate, customs, traditions and mindset of the day. It was eye-opening to learn how largely uneducated the masses were and how slaves during this period of time were highly skilled craftsman as opposed to unskilled manual laborers. At opportune moments, the author blends history with modern events, an example being the 1991 discovery of the African Burial ground in Manhattan, and points out where history has indeed repeated itself in years following 1741. Although it is quite obvious how things would end, Johnson's storytelling nonetheless kept me turning pages. History buffs will enjoy this read.
Reviewed by Phyllis
APOOO BookClub
Nubian Circle Book Club
Book Description
Lincoln at Cooper Union explores Lincoln's most influential and widely reported pre-presidential address -- an extraordinary appeal by the western politician to the eastern elite that propelled him toward the Republican nomination for president. Delivered in New York in February 1860, the Cooper Union speech dispelled doubts about Lincoln's suitability for the presidency, and reassured conservatives of his moderation while reaffirming his opposition to slavery to Republican progressives.
Award-winning Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer places Lincoln and his speech in the context of the times -- an era of racism, politicized journalism, and public oratory as entertainment -- and shows how the candidate framed the speech as an opportunity to continue his famous "debates" with his archrival Democrat Stephen A. Douglas on the question of slavery.
The Cooper Union speech, which was carefully researched by Lincoln and refers often to the Founders and authors of the Constitution, is an antislavery lecture, capped by a ringing warning to would-be secessionists in the South. It reaches its climax with the assurance that "right makes might." Long held, inaccurately, to be an appeal to the conservatives, Holzer presents Lincoln's speech as a masterly combination of scholarship, a brief for equality and democracy, and a rallying cry to the country and the Republican party.
Holzer describes the enormous risk Lincoln took by appearing in New York, where he exposed himself to the country's most critical audience and took on Republican senator William Henry Seward of New York, the front-runner, in his own backyard. Then he recounts the brilliant and innovative public relations campaign, as Lincoln took the speech "on the road" in his successful quest for the presidency.
Customer Reviews:
How Lincoln got creditable...........2007-02-17
Harold Holzer's book on Abraham Lincoln's speech at Cooper Union gives a clarity to the importance of that speech and how it affected Lincoln as a speaker, politican and future candidate for his Republican Party. While Lincoln was well known among the western states, he wasn't that well regarded along the northeastern seaboard. One of the most important things about the book was how the author explained how this speech gave Lincoln so much creditability among the easterners and how that speech firmly put Lincoln on the political map national wide. This helped pave the way for Lincoln's nomination when others were looking for alternative choices beside William Seward who was at that time, the leading Republican front runner.
The book proves to be quite informative. Abraham Lincoln is obviously one person you cannot judge by your first impression. The author throughly explained the mannerism of Lincoln's speech skills and the way it contrast to his physical appearances which often led to initial misgiving by the audience before they roared in their approval at the end of the speech.
Its pretty clear that Mr. Holzer have complete command of his subject matter which is reflected on the superb writing and ease of reading material that only an expert can do to any subject. The book appears to be well researched and it was about time that a book on this subject came out (I think the last book about this speech came out before Mr. Holzer was born).
I would considered this book to be a mandatory reading material for anyone interested in Abraham Lincoln and probably a good background material for anyone interested in the coming of the American Civil War.
Another side of Lincoln.......2007-01-05
There are so many books written on Lincoln and many different prespectives on his life and presidency. Holzer looks at the Cooper Union Speech and shows how Lincoln, the master politician used the speech and his trip East to get the 1860 nomination. Many historians assert that the speech made Lincoln. However, Holzer shows a unique view of the trip and the speech and how Lincoln used the opportunity to campaign in the East before he was officially a candidate. Ironically, Holzer points out that Salmon Chase turned down the opportunity to speak at Cooper Union demonstrating just one more ocassion when Chase blew an opportunity to get to the White House.
While dispelling many myths about the speech and Lincoln's trip, Holzer also shows the brillance of Lincoln and the time and effort that he spent in preparation for this speech. He also shows how this speech became Lincoln's stump speech. Once nominated, Lincoln followed the tradition of the time and did not campaign but used the Cooper Union Speech as essentially his platform.
For the person just beginning their interest in Lincoln or the seasoned scholar, this book is well worth the read. To add to that it is a quick and enjoyable read.
"The Founding Fathers said . . .".......2006-02-24
For anyone who wants to use the founding fathers as a justification for their belief system should read this speech and this book.
Lincoln in tight, careful reasoning lays out exactly what the founding fathers believed in regard to slavery. Eloquent, exciting and challenging.
This is much needed study to the speeches of Lincoln.
Democracy in 1860.......2006-01-30
I enjoyed this book immensely and now look forward to reading more from Holzer about this period. It answered so many questions I had about the messy circumstances surrounding slavery and the formation of the country. What I had always thought of as such hypocrisy was, as I now understand it, an incredible lesson in the human tension between reality and ideals -- such a Christian tension and so true to life, and on such a grand and significant scale. Rather than merely acknowledging the "stain", as indeed it was, the focus today should be on the triumph of overcoming it.
In his highly detailed telling, Holzer over and over exposes Linclon myths surrounding the event and that are, in themselves so revealing of human tendencies. While deflating so many of these myths, in the doing he does so much to explain the likely origins -- often humourous, sometimes self serving, but always understandable and enriching to his story.
And not just myths. One I found particularly poignant was repeated on occasion by son Robert who was at Exeter at the time of the speech. While it had been only about 4 months since they had seen each other, a visit to Robert was one of Lincoln's excuses for taking the time and incurring the expense of going East to speak. Lincoln ultimately made about 10 subsequent stops to speak in New England on his return trip to and from Exeter before heading home. While these speeches laid the foundation for his calculating father's ultimate nomination and election, Robert steadfastly maintained the purpose of the trip was to see him. I found that very touching -- it's one thing to be a father to your country, but still another to be so to your son.
At the heart of it all was the speech itself and the eager ears, eventually eyes, which took it in. While Lincoln's personality was a factor, the power of his words was what carried he day. I found this revealing and a tonic to today's politics -- an altogether different America then.
This was democracy at its best. There is clearly, to me at least, no ideal political system, as all can be manipulated. Now with Hamas the victors in Palestine, I guess even the current administration might be thinking this.
I could go on, but won't other than to quote the following recollection attributed to Lincoln and which might best be read with the thought of current schooling in mind:
I remember how, when a mere child, I used to get irritated when any body talked to me in a way I could not understand. I don't think I ever got angry at anything else in my life . . . I can remember going to my little bedroom, after hearing the neighbors talk of an evening with my father, and spending no small part of the night walking up and down, and trying to make out what was the exact meaning of some of their, to me, dark sayings. I could not sleep, though I often tried to, when I got on such a hunt after an idea, until I had caught it; and when I thought I had got it, I was not satisfied until I had repeated it over and over, until I had put it in language plain enough, as I thought, for any boy I knew to comprehend. This was a kind of passion with me, and it has stuck by me; for I am never easy now, when I am handling a thought, till I have bounded it North, and bounded it South, and bounded it East, and bounded it West. Perhaps that accounts for the characteristic you observe in my speeches, though I never put the two things together before.
PS As a graduate of Cooper Union, I did find Holzer's account of Cooper's amazing building a bit thin. Plans and photos are available on the web. The stage is on the West, not the North as Holzer says, and there are 18 obstructing columns, not 16. These inaccuracies have not altered my faith in his account. I have inserted a plan of the hall in my copy.
Highly recommended.......2005-08-24
Another wonderful contribution to Lincoln scholarship by Harold Holzer! Like all of his previous contributions to our understanding of the Civil War president, this book is thoroughly researched, gracefully written, and richly informative.
Lincoln spoke on February 27, 1860, to a large crowd in New York's Cooper Union on the great political issue of the day, the extension of slavery into the American territories. The 90-minute speech was carefully researched, logically argued, and powerfully delivered, and, at its conclusion, the audience burst into cheers. The following day, it was printed in full in the major newspapers of New York City. In the weeks and months ahead, it was reprinted and avidly read in all parts of the country (except the slaveholding states of the South).
Holzer argues that the Cooper Union speech was, in a sense, both the first and the last of Lincoln's presidential campaign speeches, for it was the first major address in which he believed that he might actually be elected president, and after he returned to Illinois he never again delivered a campaign address (the custom of the time prohibited presidential candidates from actively seeking the office). But the speech was so warmly received and so widely read by voters from New England to California that it served its purpose over and over again, placing Lincoln's views before the electorate and demonstrating the formidable powers of reason and persuasion that he would bring to the presidency.
Holzer discusses the circumstances that led up to the Cooper Union speech, the time-consuming preparations Lincoln made for it, the effect that it produced (both in New York City and in the broader nation), and its historical significance. I was particularly fascinated by his description of New York in 1860, already the nation's preeminent metropolis, with a seething commercial, political, and journalistic life, and of Lincoln's experiences there, both inside and outside Cooper Union.
Highly recommended.
Book Description
Extraordinarily wealthy and influential, Stephen Duncan (1787-1867) was a landowner, slaveholder, and financier with a remarkable array of social, economic, and political contacts in pre-Civil War America. In the first biography of Duncan, Martha Jane Brazy paints a new portrait of antebellum life by exploring Duncan's multifacted networks among elites in both the South and the North. Duncan grew up in a well-to-do Pennsylvania family with strong business ties in Philadelphia. There was little indication, though, that he would become a cosmopolitan entrepreneur who would own over fifteen plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana, collectively enslaving more than two thousand slaves. With style and substance, Martha Jane Brazy describes both the development of Duncan's businesses and the lives of the slaves on whose labor his empire was constructed. According to Brazy, Duncan was a "hybrid," not fully a southerner or a northerner. He was also, Brazy shows, a paradox. Although he put down deep roots in Natchez, his sphere of influence was national in scope. Although his wealth was greatly dependent on the slaves he owned, he predicted a clash over the issue of slave ownership nearly three decades before the onset of the Civil War. A product of both North and South, Duncan illuminates how and when the regions were contradictory and when they could be made compatible. Perhaps more than any other planter studied thus far, Duncan breaks the mold created by historians to explain the southern slaveholding aristocracy. By connecting and contrasting the networks of this elite planter and those he enslaved, Brazy provides new insights into the "slaveocracy" of antebellum America. AUTHOR BIO: Martha Jane Brazy is an assistant professor of history at the University of South Alabama in Mobile.
Customer Reviews:
An American Planter.......2007-01-03
The book was excellant and very detailed. Since I am involved in Auburn it is very poignant. Only drawback is the printing is so small.
Book Description
“THE PEOPLE COULD FLY,” the title story in Virginia Hamilton’s prize-winning American Black folktale collection, is a fantasy tale of the slaves who possessed the ancient magic words that enabled them to literally fly away to freedom. And it is a moving tale of those who did not have the opportunity to “fly” away, who remained slaves with only their imaginations to set them free as they told and retold this tale.
Leo and Diane Dillon have created powerful new illustrations in full color for every page of this picture book presentation of Virginia Hamilton’s most beloved tale. The author’s original historical note as well as her previously unpublished notes are included.
Awards for The People Could Fly collection:
A Coretta Scott King Award
A Booklist Children’s Editors’ Choice
A School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
A Horn Book Fanfare
An ALA Notable Book
An NCTE Teachers’ Choice
A New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the Year
Customer Reviews:
The People Could Fly.......2007-09-11
I bought this book about 20 years ago - It was a favorite of my then young children. TO this day, my daughter, son and I remember the great stories and pictures. They are now 24 and 26 years old. I have given this book for a gift as well. You can't beat this one!
Powerful Reading, A Classic that should be in every US home & Classroom.......2006-03-09
Beautifully illustrated and written. The colors only enhance the beauty of the original black and white drawings. This book will spark interest in African American history, especially that of the Gullah people.
"The People Could Fly" has it's roots in Angollah and the "Gullah" people. Tradition among the US slaves said that the "powers" of the Gullah people were very strong. How do I know this? I learned it from the comments at the end of the book.
After I read this, I remembered that Jonathan Green grew up in the Gullah culture. I LOVE his artwork, so I thought I'd do some research and find out if my memory was correct.
I found out that not only was he Gullah, but that from his birth, Jonathan Green was considered a special child because he was born with a caul which indicates "that the child is touched by uncommonness and magic that will bring inordinate grace to the community". As a result Jonathan was "deferred to and taught many things about his people, their traditions and their beliefs."
All this I learned because I read, "The People Could Fly". Buy this book for your children. And also buy the collection of stories by Hamilton entitled "The People Could Fly". The illustrations in the collection of stories are black and white and every bit as beautiful.
A masterpiece!.......2005-07-29
The story, prose, and illustrations of this book are beautiful and timeless.
We checked this book out from the library and it became an immediate favorite--we didn't want to give it back! I'm buying my own copy for our collection.
Only their imaginations to set them free.......2005-01-30
The death of author Virginia Hamilton in 2002 was a blow to the world of children's literature, no question. Hamilton was an extraordinary writer, creating complex fantastical books for children that seamlessly integrated contemporary interesting situations with aspects of African-American culture. Heck, one of the first ways I learned about the Underground Railroad was through her "House of Dies Drear". I hadn't read her collection of black folktales entitled "The People Could Fly" though I intended to. I was a little confused, therefore, when a brand spanking new "The People Could Fly" was published in 2004. I soon learned, though, that the book had taken one of the stories from the original collection, in a beautiful retelling of the amazing title story. This is a book that is beautiful to look at and a joy to read and reread.
For you see, they say the people could fly. Long ago in Africa there lived people who had beautiful bright black wings and who could soar in the sky. When they were captured by white slavers, the people shed their wings in the tight confines of the slave ships and forgot how to soar. They were sent to work in the field under the whips of the "masters" and overseers. One day, a woman and her babe were suffering too much to go on much longer. With the ancient words of the old man Toby, the woman and the babe remember how to fly and soared away from the farm. The story recounts how the people who knew how to fly learned to do so again with the help of old Toby and how the slaves who did not know how to fly watched them escape and retold the story to their children just as this book tells it to you.
It's a lovely story, all the lovelier due to the illustrations of Leo and Diane Dillon. The Dillons have illustrated the covers and books of Ms. Hamilton for years, so it is not surprising that they should do so again here. I've always been a huge fan of the Dillons, and this latest effort of theirs is as beautiful as anyone could hope. Even its endpapers are gorgeous, all matt black with shimmery feathers floating down the pages. What "The People Could Fly" does best is introduce children to the concept of slavery within the context of a folktale. Through this story kids understand the horrors of enslavement, rejoice in the escape of some, and understand that most slaves remained trapped and unable to fly. What really set this book apart for me, though, was the use of Editor and Author's Notes. Some great picture books (such as "Ellington Was Not a Street") are beautiful and interesting but never set their story within any context and leave you feeling very confused. "The People Could Fly", on the other hand, tells you everything you need to know about Hamilton, the origins of this tale, the various interpretations of flight (and how you can find a similar idea in Toni Morrison's excellent "Song of Solomon"), and the degradation of slavery.
All intelligent dialogue aside, this book is just a great read to kids. It'll capture their attention with the beautiful pictures, and the words will give them the additional thrill of wondering what it would be like to fly with wings. It's written with slightly older children in mind. Those kids who still like picture books but may want something a little more sophisticated than your average "Horton Hears a Who". With all the folktales out there, it's sometimes difficult to find African-American tales that aren't ALL based on Brer Rabbit. Fortunately, we now have this story to read to all the children we can find. This is a gorgeous addition to any collection and should be adored for as long as it exists.
Customer Reviews:
A speech for the ages.......2005-04-26
There are two books with almost identical titles and cover art. There is "Lincoln at Cooper Union" with the subtitle "The Speech that made Abraham Lincon President," by Harold Holzer and there is this book written a few months earlier by John A. Corry. I earlier reviewed the Holzer book and gave it five stars and this book is also exellent and deserves five stars. The speech was originally to be delivered at Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church in Brooklyn. Lincoln had been invited to give a lecture there and after negotiations as to the the date of the speech, February 27, 1860 was agreed upon. For a number of logistical reasons, the sponsor of the speech was changed and it was relocated to Cooper Institute in Manhattan as part of a lecture series. In all of the correspondance between Lincoln and the sponsors, somehow Lincoln was never informed of the venue change and was quite surprised when he arrived in New York.
The speech was divided into three parts, (1)a lawyerly dissertation on the intent of the "fathers", to wit, the signers of the constitution, as to whether slavery could be banned in the territories, (2) an appeal to a hypothetical southern audience, and (3) a rallying cry to the Republican faithful. The speech includes the memorable phrase, at the conclusion, "let us have faith that right makes might." Sadly, the Civil War followed with both sides acting in the opposite manner, that "might makes right."
The speech was a huge success as it gave Lincoln a national prominence. He took variations of the speech on the road to New England where over the next two weeks, he spoke nine times. The speech was reprinted and indeed, in the appendix there is a reproduction of an annotated copy of the speech that was distributed (Holzer's book also reproduces the annotated speech). The wide distribution of the speech was instrumental in increasing Lincoln's national stature. The cover photograph was taken by Matthew Brady the day the speech was to be delivered and Brady did such a masterful job of making the ungainly Lincoln look distinguished that the photo, as much as the speech, may have helped propel Lincoln to the presidency.
The books are similar although, of course, there are differences. Corry relies on direct quotations more than does Holzer so Holzer's narrative flows a little more. Corry gives more background on the issue of slavery as it evolved in the decades leading up to the speech. Holzer, on the other hand, spends a little more time on the negotiations for Lincoln to deliver the speech and on Lincoln's preparations. As to the issue of preparation, Corry includes a great insight: that Lincoln was very intelligent but had a specific type of intelligence, an intelligence which had a capcity for extensive research and preparation. I agree with this insight. Although Lincoln is famous for humorous quips, his great speeches were all thoroughly prepared. If you read a history of the immediate aftermath of Appomattox, you will note that Lincoln was called upon to deliver an impromtu speech from the White House. At that moment of Lincoln's greatest triumph, he delievered a somewhat rambling, pedestrian speech that did little to inspire. However, the Cooper Union speech, Gettysburg Address, and second inaugeral speech, all meticulously prepared, are speeches for the ages.
Both this book and Holzer's effort are superb and I recommend both. If you are to read only one, you would not go wrong by reading either of the two.
Clear, enjoyable guide to vital Lincoln speech.......2004-05-22
This is a great companion to Holzer's work on the same topic. The authors approach this Lincoln speech from somewhat different angles. Together, though, you have a three-dimensional view of a watershed event in American history.
Book Description
"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.
Customer Reviews:
Mixed Review.......2005-09-09
This book provides a good overview of blacks (slave and free) in New York. It's a very good reference (encyclopedic) book.
My main problem with it is that Leslie M. Harris, the author, relies heavily (if not entirely) on secondary sources. The book, then, is nothing more than a patchwork of various other more scholarly works. Hence, finding the actual primary source (i.e. court decision, council minutes, etc) proves extremely difficult.
I do not recommend this book for advanced students. If, however, you're interested in an easy read and don't care about sources, this is the book for you.
Average customer rating:
- Both The Real Thing and A Merciless Parody
- Let's be reasonable.
- What a joke!
- Good Writer Loses Control
- It doesn't have anything to do with the dance - Polka, but lively language of Civil War tale...,. a Book Loons reviewer
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The Amalgamation Polka
Stephen Wright
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Contemporary
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ASIN: 067945117X
Release Date: 2006-02-14 |
Book Description
Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a bright star in the literary sky,” Stephen Wright now extends his astonishing accomplishment with a Civil War novel unlike any other.
Born in 1844 in bucolic upstate New York, Liberty Fish is the son of fervent abolitionists as well as the grandson of Carolina slaveholders even more dedicated to their cause. Thus follows a childhood limned with fugitive slaves moving through hidden passageways in the house, his Uncle Potter’s free-soil adventure stories whose remarkable violence sets the tone of the mounting national crisis, and the inevitable distress that befalls his mother whenever letters arrive from her parents—a conflict that ultimately costs her her life and compels Liberty, in hopes of reconciling the familial disunion, to escape first into the cauldron of war and then into a bedlam more disturbing still.
Rich in characters both heartbreaking and bloodcurdling, comic and horrific, The Amalgamation Polka is shot through with politics and dreams, and it captures great swaths of the American experience, from village to metropolis to plantation, from the Erie Canal to the Bahamas, from Bloody Kansas to the fulfillment of the killing fields. Yet for all the brutality and tragedy, this novel is exuberant in the telling and its wide compassion, brimming with the language, manners, hopes, and fears of its time—all of this so transformed by Stephen Wright’s imaginative compass that places and events previously familiar are rendered new and strange, terrifying and stirring. Instantly revelatory, constantly mesmerizing, this is the work of a major writer at the top of his form.
Customer Reviews:
Both The Real Thing and A Merciless Parody.......2007-01-26
"Wright's title refers to a racist editorial cartoon of the period, which depicted "an amalgamation polka," where whites and blacks dance together in genteel costumes. This was meant to suggest, one presumes, that other mutually enjoyable physical activities might occur between the races later in the evening. Race mixing was the great shibboleth of slavery advocates and segregationists from the dawn of American history almost to our own time and many of the characters in Wright's novel are obsessed with it." Andrew O'Hehir
Stephen Wright is one of my favorite authors. I was introduced to him by my best friend who recommended his book "Going Native". I read this book in almost one sitting ten months ago but left the last chapter until now. I wanted to be able to leave the last chapter for a time when I needed solace and understanding. Who else will tell you that our country is screwed, always has been and always will be. Who else, as in most of his novels, infers that this 'is both the real thing and a merciless parody'? And, who else writes such marvelous prose? Exactly, maybe no one.
Liberty Fish, yes that is his real name, grows up in a house used as a station on the Underground Railroad, but his mother was raised on a large South Carolina plantation and his father is the son of a Northern industrial family that has profited greatly from the slave trade. Liberty's parents want to destroy the institution that made their families rich, and this perversity runs through the book. When Liberty visits the devastated Redemption Hall, his mother's birthplace, and meets his maternal grandfather, Asa Maury, the old man is a bitter, angry, hardened bigot. Yet, faced with the destruction of slavery, he is facing the racial dilemma, and is trying to solve it. Liberty survives the horrors of war at Antietam. He is taken prisoner by the rebels, then deserts from the Union Army to go find grandfather Asa. There he works with his grandfather to escape the collapsing Confederacy and hijack a ship for Brazil, where slavery remains alive and well. This harkens us back to Liberty's childhood where he is educated by a one-eyed former slave named Euclid, taken carousing by his Uncle Potter and sworn into the secret fraternity of pirates by a strange character Fife. Where does this all take us? That journey, my friend, is for you take.
Stephen Wright may see bloodshed and tumult of the Civil War period as good examples of our American madness. Despite the parody or maybe because of it, Stephen Wright gives us a new vocabulary, 'sheconnery', 'buckra, and 'gallinipers'. Fitting words for the occasion. What do they mean? You decide.
One of the characters, a southern lady sums this book up the best 'This war,'" she says to Liberty, "'this horrible evil war, it's never going to end. You do understand that, don't you? Even after it's over it will continue to go on without the flags and the trumpets and the armies, do you understand?'
There is so much to say about this novel. Stephen Wright may be having as much difficulty as we are in understanding what is happening in our world today, but he is able to articulate his thoughts in remarkable prose. I do not have the words to express the mastery of Stephen Wright's prose,nor will I try. Suffice it to say that he has led Liberty to the conclusion that "Life ... makes mongrels of us all." So Very, Very Highly Recommended.
prisrob 1-25-07
Let's be reasonable........2006-12-24
I have never before submitted a review on amazon but feel compelled to do so in this instance. This book is terrible. The characters, scenarios, and dialogues are almost without exception trite and formulaic to the point of inducing nausea.
What a joke!.......2006-10-06
Puhlease folks! This book is filled with the most sophomoric metaphors and turgid prose that is taught at the Iowa Writers Workshop. And people think this is great literature - HAHAHA. Don't bother.
Good Writer Loses Control.......2006-09-25
Pro-slavery Americans used the term amalgamation polka to describe what they saw as the inevitable mixing of the white and black races, should abolition occur. Using this as a backdrop, Wright shows Liberty Fish growing up in an Abolitionist household in upstate New York, when amalgamation fears were common. Then, he shows Liberty fighting for the North at Antietam and foraging with Sherman's army, before joining his grandfather, Asa, in the Carolinas. Asa is a violent and sadistic slaveholder and a literal amalgamist, who has an insane and incestuous vision of eliminating Africans from America.
Unfortunately, the stories of these two characters misfire in combination, as the cipher-like Liberty interacts with his Freddy Krueger-like grandfather. Certainly, Wright creates a plausible coming-of-age narrative about Liberty and his three years of military service during the Civil War. But then, the crazed Asa appears and we see a warped and sadistic Southerner trying to cope with his culture and slavery, as well as his anger at his daughter. In a seminar, a professor might tease out the connections. But as a reading experience, Wright seems to seek resolution of Liberty's story with an implausible and gothic tale. The final third of this book certainly has vivid characters. But it felt unconvincing as Wright desperately sought to find the end of his story.
Nonetheless, Wright's writing is often terrific and even Faulknerian at the end of some chapters. Liberty fighting in the Battle of Antietam (Pages 171-191) is excellent. Still, the story seems arbitrary and bizarre when it's driven by Asa. And Liberty, the protagonist, is as flat as a slogan.
It doesn't have anything to do with the dance - Polka, but lively language of Civil War tale...,. a Book Loons reviewer.......2006-04-29
Author Stephen Wright has been idle from the writing scene for ten years of which The AMALGAMATION POLKA is his fourth novel, recently released. Many peers have accorded literary kudos to Wright, all of which is well-deserved attention. Wright's eerie style resembles TV's old 'Twilight Zone' serials. The author's style wends its way in a fashion that the reader anxiously forges ahead to find out the outcome, and wanting more.
The setting is Civil War era in the pre-consolidated America, and the abolitionist Fish family. Roxana Fish marries Thatcher of Saratoga Springs, NY, and having come from South Carolina slave owners, Roxana witnessed vicious beatings. She developed an intense outrage of injustice, pressing her family about the latter... she is told, 'a proper woman of the South doesn't act that way....'. Thatcher is committed to ending slavery, and recklessly leads Roxana to run away under secrecy, and to marry. Their home is opened to the Underground Railroad. Parenting a child named Liberty, they are sure the child will grow to fight for the Union. War begins developing into battlefield losses and enmity.
As in his prior Wright's novels, and with his gift of language, he transposes defined characters, time period dialog, and the reader travels forward, following the powerful pen of the author. With an average plot, added humor at times overly injected, Wright's mastery of language holds on to the reading audience.
Recommendation: WIDOW OF THE SOUTH, also Jeff Shaara(Michael Shaara) Civil War Trilogy is superb.
Average customer rating:
- What an exciting adventure
- A key element was missing.
- Look to the Hills
- A nice novel
- Didn't live up to high Dear America standard, but ok
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Look to the Hills: The Diary of Lozette Moreau, a French Slave Girl, New York Colony 1763 (Dear America Series)
Patricia C. Mckissack
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0439210380 |
Book Description
Arriving with her French masters in upstate New York at the tail end of the French-Indian War, Lozette, "Zettie," an orphaned slave girl, is confronted with new landscapes, new conditions, and new conflicts. As her masters are torn between their own nationality and their somewhat reluctant new allegiance to the British colonial government, Zettie, too, must reconsider her own loyalties.
Customer Reviews:
What an exciting adventure.......2007-08-08
Zettie is a slave to Marie-Louise's father but when he dies she worries about what will happen to her. Marie-Louise convinces her fiancee to buy Zettie. They then escape to Spain and then to America in search of Marie-Louise's other brother Jacques who was thought to be dead but may in fact be alive. For Zettie, she keeps hoping Marie-Louise or Jacques will be able to free her. I like that she does eventually become freed. I enjoyed reading all about Colonial America, the forts, French and Indian wars and a part of American history I don't hear about. I liked Zettie a lot. She was a smart, clever girl who was a fabelous duelist.
A key element was missing........2006-02-22
"Look To The Hills, The Diary Of Lozette Moreau, A French Slave Girl" was a "Dear America" book that interested me greatly. I thought it'd be interesting to read about another form of slavery: companions. I admit to not knowing much about this, and I thought what better way to be introduced than through the beloved "Dear America" series? I must say that I was disappointed. I think that author Patricia C. McKissack is not my type of author, and I find her plots rather boring. I didn't warm up to any of the characters, and I felt that something was missing - mainly action. For the historical point of view, I enjoyed it, but for the entertaining point of view, I didn't. I "sorta" recommend.
Look to the Hills.......2005-04-04
I have read the book Look to the Hills, the diary of a French slave girl. My recommendation for this book would be, to encourage people to read it. It is about a young lady named Lozette Moreau (Zettie for short). She is a slave to a young French lady named Marie-Louise Boyer (Ree for short). Ree's father purchased Zettie as a young girl to be a companion to Ree. At least that's what everybody tells Zettie, but she knows she is really just her slave. She goes wherever Ree goes, and does what ever Ree does. This book is mostly about the life of Zettie.
The year is 1763. The war between the French and the British is going on. Ree's bother is battling the British in America, to gain more land for the French. Ree's other brother could not fight in the war because he had and injured knee. Unfortunately Ree's brother had previously gambled money, and had lost his fathers whole fortune. This book tells a lot of historical facts. One example would be the fact that the French are fighting the British and many, many soldiers are getting killed. Zettie falls in love with one of Ree's friends that is very kind to her and is a true gentleman, Saint George. When Ree's brother arranges a marriage for Ree to get married to Jean-Paul. Ree and Zettie both go on a carriage to the French suburbs where he lives. But they are robbed secretly by Saint George so that Ree would not have to marry Jean-Paul. Ree decides to go and find her brother, which is in the war since her father has already died. Saint George helps them get to Spain to get closer to America to find her brother.They stay in an old friends house. But they do not treat Zettie very well. This book really showed me the way that a black woman really suffered in that time even if she did have an amazing owner that was kind to her.
so in other words I really recommend that you read this book. It actually inspired me to be more grateful and thankful that I live in this time period. It showed me that it was really tough back then and even if there were some nice masters, there were still some really tough ones too. For example when Zettie and Ree went to Spain, they lived in a house with an old friend of Ree. The woman who lived in there had absolutely no respect for Zettie and treated her like an animal. I hope that you read this book because it was wonderful to read, and I really enjoyed learning about the life of a French slave girl.
A nice novel .......2004-09-21
After starting high school, I started taking French as a foreign language so I was really looking forward to reading this book and learning more about the French culture. The book didn't disappoint me. 12-year-old Lorzette Moreau "Zettie" is a companion, a better world for a slave in the upper class French society. Her mistress, Marie Moreau "Rae" is set to be married to a man she does not love so that Maries brother Pierre can pay off his debts. Zettie is also set to be sold off. When Zettie begins the diary she is locked in a room waiting for the day she will be sold and never see her mistress again. Little does she know that Rae has a plan for escape. After a daring escape, Zettie and Rae, with the help of friends, find themselves at the Ortega's house, Rae's godparents. There, they learn that Jacques, Rae's older brother, presumed dead from the war between France and England, may be alive and well as a captive in the Colonies, America. So, soon Zettie finds herself setting foot in a new land. However, Zettie finds that the way Americans treat slaves are no differnt than in France. Even though Rae is very nice to her, Zettie still isn't Rae's equal. Zettie yearns for freedom and she soon begins to learn that she might be able to use her skills to do just that. Will Zettie be able to look to the other side of the hills, freedom?
I definitely enjoyed this book. It had a new perspective on the slave, one that was refreshing and different. I recommend all readers of Dear America to read this book.
Didn't live up to high Dear America standard, but ok.......2004-05-28
Look to the Hills is a story that tells of Lozette Moreau's, a French slave girl, journey from France to New York in 1763 and of her ongoing wish for freedom. Whatever happens, this spirited girl always keeps her hopes alive. From Aix-en-Provence, France, to Spain, across the Atlantic Ocean, to New York Colony, wherever she goes, Lozette, or Zettie, is forever hopeful, and inspires others to be so too.
Zettie has been Marie-Louise Boyer's, or Ree's, companion for as long as she can remember. Companions are slaves who go everywhere and do everything with their masters, sharing many of the same privileges. Zettie has always been well-treated and has never really considered herself a slave. But when Ree's father dies and her ruthless brother Pierre takes over, Zettie realizes how vulnerable she really is. Ree is forced to marry a man she hates, and she persuades her husband to purchase Zettie, who Pierre is auctioning, as a wedding gift for Ree. Their friend St. Georges then helps Zettie and Ree escape to Spain, where they will search for Ree's lost brother, Jacques. They learn that he is in America, where he was presumed to be killed in battle, and they sail to New York.
Once in New York, Zettie and Ree move to Fort Niagara. While Ree finds her brother, who has been accused of deserting the French army, and falls in love, Zettie has her own adventures. She meets many new friends, learns about her heritiage, becomes involved in the French and Indian war and the wars between the Indians and the English colonists, and competes in a fencing match. But most of all, Zettie inspires everyone she meets to want freedom and to keep their hopes up.
This book told about some topics we haven't learned much about: slavery before the Revolutionary War, and slavery in other countries. The characters were very believable, but after the first half of the book, it didn't have much of a plot.
Book Description
In an innovative blend of cultural and political history, David N. Gellman has written the most complete study to date of the abolition of slavery in New York State. Focusing on public opinion, he shows New Yorkers engaged in vigorous debates and determined activism during the final decades of the eighteenth century as they grappled with the possibility of freeing the state's black population. In 1799, gradual emancipation in New York began—a profound event, Gellman argues. It helped move an entire region of the country toward a historically rare slaveless democracy, creating a wedge in the United States that would ultimately lead to the Civil War.Gellman presents a comprehensive examination of the reasons for and timing of New York's dismantling of slavery. It was the northern state with the greatest number of slaves, more than 20,000 in 1790. Newspapers, pamphlets, legislative journals, and organizational records reveal how whites and blacks, citizens and slaves, activists and politicians, responded to the changing ideologies and evolving political landscape of the early national period and concluded that slavery did not fit with their state's emerging identity. Support for the institution atrophied, and eventually the preponderance of New York's political leaders endorsed gradual abolition. The first book on its subject, Emancipating New York provides a fascinating narrative of a citizenry addressing longstanding injustices central to some of the greatest traumas of American history. The debate within the New York public sphere over abolition proved a pivotal contest in the unraveling of worldwide slavery, Gellman shows, and set the stage for intense political conflicts in the nineteenth century. AUTHOR BIO: David N. Gellman is a coeditor of Jim Crow New York: A Documentary History of Race and Citizenship, 1777-1877 and an associate professor of history at DePauw University.
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