Stories of Freedom in Black New York

Häftad, Engelska, 2007

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Beskrivning

Stories of Freedom in Black New York recreates the experience of black New Yorkers as they moved from slavery to freedom. In the early decades of the nineteenth century, New York City's black community strove to realize what freedom meant, to find a new sense of itself, and, in the process, created a vibrant urban culture. Through exhaustive research, Shane White imaginatively recovers the raucous world of the street, the elegance of the city's African American balls, and the grubbiness of the Police Office. It allows us to observe the style of black men and women, to watch their public behavior, and to hear the cries of black hawkers, the strident music of black parades, and the sly stories of black conmen. Taking center stage in this story is the African Company, a black theater troupe that exemplified the new spirit of experimentation that accompanied slavery's demise. For a few short years in the 1820s, a group of black New Yorkers, many of them ex-slaves, challenged pervasive prejudice and performed plays, including Shakespearean productions, before mixed race audiences. Their audacity provoked feelings of excitement and hope among blacks, but often of disgust by many whites for whom the theater's existence epitomized the horrors of emancipation. Stories of Freedom in Black New York brilliantly intertwines black theater and urban life into a powerful interpretation of what the end of slavery meant for blacks, whites, and New York City itself. White's story of the emergence of free black culture offers a unique understanding of emancipation's impact on everyday life, and on the many forms freedom can take.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2007-09-01
Mått:129 x 202 x undefined mm
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:272
Förlag:Harvard University Press
ISBN:9780674025783
Utmärkelser:Nominated for Frederick Douglass Book Prize 2003

Utforska kategorier

Amerikas historia inom Historia och arkeologi
Etnicitet inom Samhälle och politik

Mer om författaren

Shane White is Professor of History at the University of Sydney.

Recensioner i media

A splendid book. Stories of Freedom in Black New York digs deep into the antebellum city, and unearths far more treasures than scholars have assumed existed. Its probing investigation of the subtleties of race relations, its intertwining of theater and everyday life, its exhumation of language, perceptions, and folkways, are remarkable.