Strange New Land: African Americans 1617-1776 (The ^AYoung Oxford History of African Americans) - Hardcover

Wood, Peter H.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195087003 ISBN 13: 9780195087000

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1996

Synopsis

For Africans who survived the trans-Atlantic journey and were forced to disembark at one of the many ports along the coast of Britain's North American colonies, what lay before them was indeed a strange new land. Although forms of bondage had existed in West and Central Africa long before the trans Atlantic slave trade began, human beings were rarely the main commodity at the marketplace. Here in the modern world, the enslaved African was inspected, assessed, auctioned, bought, sold, bartered, and treated in any manner the owner saw fit.
Slaves did not always cooperate. They fought and ran away, or made the business of commercial farming more difficult by not working efficiently. In spite of their condition and despite different ethnic backgrounds and languages, enslaved Africans forged a strong sense of community. The Africans learned the English language and made it their own. They learned Christianity and transformed it. Others held fast to Islam or combined their own spiritual beliefs with the faith of their masters. And all around them they heard talk of liberty and freedom, of the rights of man. Not surprisingly, many enslaved Africans embraced the idea of liberty as a fundamental right, and some even petitioned colonial administrators, insisting on that right. But the majority simply stole themselves and headed to Northern cities where slavery was less visible and where they might blend in more easily.
Strange New Land explores the history of slavery and the struggle for freedom before the United States became a nation. Beginning with the colonization of North America, it documents the transformation of slavery from a brutal form of indentured servitude to a full-blown system of racial domination. More importantly, it surveys black social and cultural life, illustrating just how such a diverse group of people from the shores and hinterlands of West and Central Africa became a community in North America that survives and flourishes today.

About this title

About the Author

About the Author:
Peter H. Wood is a professor of history at Duke University. Dr. Wood is the author of Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial south Carolina from 1670 through the Stono Rebellion, which was nominated for the National Book Award.

Reviews

Grade 8 Up?An important book that gives students the latest historical research on Africans in America in the pre-Revolutionary century. Despite the clear and lively writing style, however, it is not an easy read. This is partly because data on blacks in the colonial period is scattered and piecemeal. Also, it's a sad tale that must be extrapolated from small details of individual histories and off-hand references, or from recent discoveries such as the unearthing of a burial ground in New York City. Where possible, the author tells the stories of people who either escaped from slavery or were noted for their resistance to it. Wood makes it clear that there were differences in language, culture, and religion among those from various parts of Africa; points out the many sympathetic relationships between Africans and Indians; and stresses that the newcomers brought their native foods, crafts, and agricultural skills to their strange new land. Black-and-white reproductions of prints, drawings, and historical documents, as well as photographs of artifacts, all contribute to this interesting presentation on the lives and sufferings of some of the earliest arrivals to this continent.?Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195087003
• ISBN 13: 9780195087000
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128