Death or Liberty

African Americans and Revolutionary America
1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-0-19-978225-3
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 352 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 603 g

Fluid synthesis of African Americans in the Revolutionary period covering the north, mid-Atlantic, upper, and lower South
Argues that the egalitarian promise of the Revolution was not the basis for antislavery crusades and that the radical political promises for black Americans were jettisoned by the founders
Suitable for adoption in early American history, Revolutionary War era, and African American history courses

In Death or Liberty, Douglas R. Egerton offers a sweeping chronicle of African American history stretching from Britain's 1763 victory in the Seven Years' War to the election of slaveholder Thomas Jefferson as president in 1800. While American slavery is usually identified with antebellum cotton plantations, Egerton shows that on the eve of the Revolution it encompassed everything from wading in the South Carolina rice fields to carting goods around Manhattan to serving the households of Boston's elite. More important, he recaptures the drama of slaves, freed blacks, and white reformers fighting to make the young nation fulfill ist republican slogans. Although this struggle often unfolded in the corridors of power, Egerton pays special attention to what black Americans did for themselves in these decades, and his narrative brims with compelling portraits of forgotten African American activists and rebels, who battled huge odds and succeeded in finding liberty--if never equality--only in northern states. Egerton concludes that despite the real possibility of peaceful, if gradual, emancipation, the Founders ultimately lacked the courage to end slavery.

Zielgruppe

African American history, history of slavery, history of the American Revolutionary and early Republic

Autoren/Hrsg.

Egerton, Douglas R.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Amerikanische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Geschichte der Sklaverei
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Minderheiten, Interkulturelle & Multikulturelle Fragen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Geschichte der Revolutionen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Prologue: The Trials of William Lee: A Life in the Age of Revolution
One: Equiano's World: The British Atlantic Empire in 1763
Two: Richard's Cup: Slavery and the Coming of the Revolution
Three: The Transformation of Colonel Tye: Black Combatants and the War
Four: Quok Walker's Suit: Emancipation in the North
Five: Absalom's "Meritorious Service": Antislavery in the Upper South
Six: Captain Vesey's Cargo: Continuity in Georgia and the Carolinas
Seven: Mum Bett Takes a Name: The Emergence of Free Black Communities
Eight: Harry Washington's Atlantic Crossings: The Migrations of Black Loyalists
Nine: A Suspicion Only: Racism in the Early Republic
Ten: Eli Whitney's Cotton Engine: Expansion and Rebellion
Epilogue: General Gabriel's Flag: Unsuccessful Coda to the Revolution
Notes

Über Autor(innen)

Egerton, Douglas R.
Douglas R. Egerton is Joseph C. Georg Professor of History at Le Moyne College. His books include Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election that Brought on the Civil War.

Douglas R. Egerton is Joseph C. Georg Professor of History at Le Moyne College. His books include Year of Meteors: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and the Election that Brought on the Civil War.