Title Stories of freedom in Black New York / Shane White

Published Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2002

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Description 1 online resource (260 pages) : illustrations Contents Introduction -- The end of slavery -- Staging freedom -- Shakespeare's true representative -- Imitation -- Epilogue 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 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 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 Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-249) and index Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL English Print version record digitized 2010 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL Co-winner of the James A. Rawley Prize, Organization of American Historians; Winner of the Dixon Ryan Fox Prize, New York State Historical Association Subject African Company (N.Y.) -- History SUBJECT Metropolitan Museum of Art gnd Subject African Americans -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 19th century African Americans -- New York (State) -- New York -- Social conditions -- 19th century African Americans -- New York (State) -- New York -- Intellectual life African Americans -- Intellectual life -- 19th century African American theater -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 19th century African American actors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Biography Slavery -- Social aspects -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 19th century African Americans -- New York (State) -- New York -- Intellectual life -- 19th century HISTORY -- State & Local. HISTORY -- State & Local -- General. HISTORY -- United States -- Civil War Period (1850-1877) African American actors African American theater African Americans African Americans -- Intellectual life African Americans -- Social conditions Intellectual life Race relations Slavery -- Social aspects Kulturleben Gesellschaft Schwarze Theater Vrijgelaten slaven. Openbaar leven. Toneelgezelschappen. Geschichte 1800-1850. African Americans -- History. -- New York (State) -- New York -- History -- 19th century. SUBJECT New York (N.Y.) -- History -- 1775-1865. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85091421 New York (N.Y.) -- Race relations New York (N.Y.) -- Intellectual life -- 19th century. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh95005014 Subject New York (State) -- New York Schwärze New York (N.Y.) Genre/Form collective biographies. Biographies History Biographies. Biographies. Form Electronic book ISBN 9780674045149 0674045149 0674025784 9780674025783

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