Stories of freedom in Black New York / Shane White.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

White, Shane.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African Company (New York, N.Y.)--History.

African Company (New York, N.Y.).

African Americans--New York (State)--New York--History--19th century.

African Americans.

African Americans--New York (State)--New York--Intellectual life--19th century.

African Americans--New York (State)--New York--Social conditions--19th century.

African American theater--New York (State)--New York--History--19th century.

African American theater.

African American actors--New York (State)--New York--Biography.

African American actors.

Slavery--Social aspects--New York (State)--New York--History--19th century.

Slavery.

New York (N.Y.)--History--1775-1865.

New York (N.Y.).

New York (N.Y.)--Race relations.

New York (N.Y.)--Intellectual life--19th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (260 p.)

Edition:

1st Harvard University Press pbk. ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

White recreates the experience of black New Yorkers as they moved from slavery to freedom. Through research, he imaginatively recovers the raucous world of the street, the elegance of the city's African American balls and the grubbiness of the Police Office. 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 1820's, 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.

Contents:

Introduction 1. The End of Slavery 2. Staging Freedom 3. Shakespeare's True Representative 4. Imitation Epilogue Notes Acknowledgments Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-249) and index.

Co-winner of the James A. Rawley Prize, Organization of American Historians; Winner of the Dixon Ryan Fox Prize, New York State Historical Association

ISBN:

9780674045149

0674045149

OCLC:

923117040