Ebook334 pages7 hours
Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
Few Americans, black or white, recognize the degree to which early African American history is a maritime history. W. Jeffrey Bolster shatters the myth that black seafaring in the age of sail was limited to the Middle Passage. Seafaring was one of the most significant occupations among both enslaved and free black men between 1740 and 1865. Tens of thousands of black seamen sailed on lofty clippers and modest coasters. They sailed in whalers, warships, and privateers. Some were slaves, forced to work at sea, but by 1800 most were free men, seeking liberty and economic opportunity aboard ship.Bolster brings an intimate understanding of the sea to this extraordinary chapter in the formation of black America. Because of their unusual mobility, sailors were the eyes and ears to worlds beyond the limited horizon of black communities ashore. Sometimes helping to smuggle slaves to freedom, they were more often a unique conduit for news and information of concern to blacks.But for all its opportunities, life at sea was difficult. Blacks actively contributed to the Atlantic maritime culture shared by all seamen, but were often outsiders within it. Capturing that tension, Black Jacks examines not only how common experiences drew black and white sailors together—even as deeply internalized prejudices drove them apart—but also how the meaning of race aboard ship changed with time. Bolster traces the story to the end of the Civil War, when emancipated blacks began to be systematically excluded from maritime work. Rescuing African American seamen from obscurity, this stirring account reveals the critical role sailors played in helping forge new identities for black people in America.An epic tale of the rise and fall of black seafaring, Black Jacks is African Americans’ freedom story presented from a fresh perspective.
Related to Black Jacks
Related ebooks
Whaling Captains of Color: America's First Meritocracy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Waterman's Song: Slavery and Freedom in Maritime North Carolina Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Slavery's Shadow: Free People of Color in the South Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStono: Documenting and Interpreting a Southern Slave Revolt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paths to Freedom: Manumission in the Atlantic World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDismal Freedom: A History of the Maroons of the Great Dismal Swamp Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaroons and the Marooned: Runaways and Castaways in the Americas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life of William Apess, Pequot Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNarrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaroon Communities in South Carolina: A Documentary Record Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSurviving Slavery in the British Caribbean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCity of Refuge: Slavery and Petit Marronage in the Great Dismal Swamp, 1763–1856 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlake; Or, The Huts of America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Other Movement: Indian Rights and Civil Rights in the Deep South Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Struggle and the Urban South: Confronting Jim Crow in Baltimore before the Movement Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Black Urban Atlantic in the Age of the Slave Trade Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings101 African Americans Who Shaped South Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSearching for Black Confederates: The Civil War’s Most Persistent Myth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A New World of Labor: The Development of Plantation Slavery in the British Atlantic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Voices of the Enslaved: Love, Labor, and Longing in French Louisiana Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe World That Fear Made: Slave Revolts and Conspiracy Scares in Early America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComplexion of Empire in Natchez: Race and Slavery in the Mississippi Borderlands Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFighting for Freedom: National Museum of African American History and Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Slavery to Agrarian Capitalism in the Cotton Plantation South: Central Georgia, 1800-1880 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGender and Jim Crow, Second Edition: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The African Diaspora: A History Through Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLong Past Slavery: Representing Race in the Federal Writers' Project Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRich Indians: Native People and the Problem of Wealth in American History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Ethnic Studies For You
The Wretched of the Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Life Sentence: The Brief and Tragic Career of Baltimore’s Deadliest Gang Leader Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Rednecks & White Liberals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Self-Care for Black Women: 150 Ways to Radically Accept & Prioritize Your Mind, Body, & Soul Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Amazing Facts About the Negro with Complete Proof Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heavy: An American Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Things That Make White People Uncomfortable Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Red, White, and Black: Rescuing American History from Revisionists and Race Hustlers Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Black Like Me: The Definitive Griffin Estate Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Boy [Seventy-fifth Anniversary Edition] Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Salvation: Black People and Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Survived the End of the World: Lessons from Native America on Apocalypse and Hope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Blood of Emmett Till Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Geisha: A Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Black Jacks
Rating: 3.5625 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
8 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Black Jacks - W. Jeffrey Bolster
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1