Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
By the time of the American Revolution, blacks made up 20 percent of the colonial population. Early in colonial history, many blacks who came to America were indentured servants who served out their contracts and then settled in the colonies as free men. Over time, however, more and more blacks arrived as slaves, and the position of blacks in colonial society suffered precipitous decline.This book discusses the lives of blacks, both slave and free, as they struggled to make homes for themselves among the white European settlers in the New World. The author thoroughly examines colonial slavery and the laws supporting it (as early as 1686, for example, New Jersey had laws demanding the return of fugitive slaves) as well as the emancipation movement, active from the beginning of the slave trade. Other topics include blacks and the practice of Christianity in the colonies, and the service of blacks in the Revolution.
Synopsis
By the time of the American Revolution, blacks made up 20 percent of the colonial population. Early in colonial history, many blacks who came to America were indentured servants who served out their contracts and then settled in the colonies as free men. Over time, however, more and more blacks arrived as slaves, and the position of blacks in colonial society suffered precipitous decline.
This book discusses the lives of blacks, both slave and free, as they struggled to make homes for themselves among the white European settlers in the New World. The author thoroughly examines colonial slavery and the laws supporting it (as early as 1686, for example, New Jersey had laws demanding the return of fugitive slaves) as well as the emancipation movement, active from the beginning of the slave trade. Other topics include blacks and the practice of Christianity in the colonies, and the service of blacks in the Revolution.
Library Journal
This is a labor of love for Reiss, a retired internist who has written on Colonial medical history. First inspired by Colonial history in a college class he took in the 1940s, Reiss has turned that passion into a basic survey of the first years of American slavery. More narrative than analysis, the work deals topically with major subject areas, from the origins of slavery in the New World to the roles of blacks in American wars. He generally ignores slavery in Latin America. Relying almost exclusively on secondary sources, Reiss tells experts in the field little that is new, and his concept of Colonial is a bit odd, since in several chapters he carries the story well into the 19th century. This is a competent and readable book, however. Recommended for academic libraries.Anthony O. Edmonds, Ball State Univ., Muncie, Ind.