Stories of Freedom in Black New York

About this book

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 Citys 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 citys 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 slaverys demise. For a few short years in the 1820s 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 theaters 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. Whites story of the emergence of free black culture offers a unique understanding of emancipations impact on everyday life and on the many forms freedom can take.