But We Have No Country

Emma Jones Lapsansky

Through a sensitive and careful re-examination of the contemporary and subsequent descriptions of the dramatic events in Christiana in 1851, Ella Forbes has offered a rich complement to Tom Slaughter's recent exploration of the Christiana incident. Using subtle choices of vocabulary and careful re-reading of the documents, Forbes uses an African-centered perspective to expand our knowledge of the interplay of ethnicity, religion, age, gender, geography, and family ties that shape the depth and texture of 19th century African American communities.---Emma Jones Lapsansky Ph.D. Haverford College

Leroy Hopkins

Dr. Forbes uses an African-centered paradigm to analyze the events surrounding the so-called Christiana Riot of 1851 and arrives at corrective to the traditional perspective that denies Africans agency in arguably the most important incidence of resistance before the Civil War. This perspective is strengthened by the weaving into the narrative of a variety of primary and secondary sources. Thus, not only the resistance in Christiana is viewed differently, but the phenomenon of violence as a means to achieve social change-a theme usually avoided by historians. --Leroy Hopkins Ph.D. Millersville University

Wilbert L. Jenkins

Ella Forbes has produced an excellent piece of scholarship on the 1851 Christiana, Pennsylvania Resistance led by William Parker, an individual of African descent...She brilliantly weaves several diverse sources together to produce a seminal work not only of the 1851 Christiana, Pennsylvania Resistance, but one that also correctly places this event into the history of the resistance of individuals of African descent to enslavement and oppression in the Western hemisphere...But We Have No Country is among the top scholarship on African-American resistance produced in the last two decades. Indeed, it will have a profound impact on the academy. A must read for all. --Wilbert L. Jenkins, Ph.D. Temple University