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...
Stories of Freedom in Black New York recreates the experience of black New Yorkers as they moved from slavery to freedom. In the early decad...
For over two centuries, in the North as well as the South, both within their own community and in the public arena, African-Americans have presented their bodies in culturally distinctive ways. The authors of this work consider the deeper significance of the ways in which African-Americans have dressed, walked, danced, arranged their hair and communicated in silent gestures. They ask what elaborate hair styles, bright colours, bandanas, long watch chains and zoot suits, for example, have really meant, and discuss style itself as an expression of deep-seated cultural imperatives. Their...
For over two centuries, in the North as well as the South, both within their own community and in the public arena, African-Americans have presented t...
For over two centuries, in the North as well as the South, both within their own community and in the public arena, African Americans have presented their bodies in culturally distinctive ways. Shane White and Graham White consider the deeper significance of the ways in which African Americans have dressed, walked, danced, arranged their hair, and communicated in silent gestures. They ask what elaborate hair styles, bright colors, bandanas, long watch chains, and zoot suits, for example, have really meant, and discuss style itself as an expression of deep-seated cultural imperatives. Their...
For over two centuries, in the North as well as the South, both within their own community and in the public arena, African Americans have presented t...
This exploration of African American slavery through sound is a groundbreaking way of understanding both slave culture and American history "A work of great originality and insight." -Ira Berlin "Shane White and Graham White's book is a joy." -Branford Marsalis "A fascinating book . . . that brings to life the historical soundscape of 18th- and 19th-century African Americans at work, play, rest, and prayer . . . This remarkable achievement demands a place in every collection on African American and U.S. history and folklife. Highly recommended." -Library Journal "The authors have undertaken...
This exploration of African American slavery through sound is a groundbreaking way of understanding both slave culture and American history "A work of...
Shane White creatively uses a remarkable array of primary sources--census data, tax lists, city directories, diaries, newspapers and magazines, and courtroom testimony--to reconstruct the content and context of the slave's world in New York and its environs during the revolutionary and early republic periods. White explores, among many things, the demography of slavery, the decline of the institution during and after the Revolution, racial attitudes, acculturation, and free blacks' "creative adaptation to an often hostile world."
Shane White creatively uses a remarkable array of primary sources--census data, tax lists, city directories, diaries, newspapers and magazines, and co...
The phrase Harlem in the 1920s evokes images of the Harlem Renaissance, or of Marcus Garvey and soapbox orators haranguing crowds about politics and race. Yet the most ubiquitous feature of Harlem life between the world wars was the game of numbers. Thousands of wagers, usually of a dime or less, would be placed on a daily number derived from U.S. bank statistics. The rewards of hitting the number, a 600-to-1 payoff, tempted the ordinary men and women of the Black Metropolis with the chimera of the good life. "Playing the Numbers" tells the story of this illegal form of gambling and the...
The phrase Harlem in the 1920s evokes images of the Harlem Renaissance, or of Marcus Garvey and soapbox orators haranguing crowds about politics a...
In the middle decades of the nineteenth century, Jeremiah G. Hamilton was a well-known figure on Wall Street. And Hamilton was African American. Although his origins were lowly, possibly slave, he was reportedly the richest black man in the United States, possessing a fortune of two million, or in excess of two hundred and fifty million in today's currency. In Prince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah G. Hamilton, Wall Street's First Black Millionaire, a groundbreaking account, eminent historian Shane White reveals the larger-than-life story of a man who defied every convention...
In the middle decades of the nineteenth century, Jeremiah G. Hamilton was a well-known figure on Wall Street. And Hamilton was African American. Altho...
