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Stories of Freedom in Black New York by Shane White (2002, Hardcover)

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Author: Shane White. Stories of Freedom in Black New York. NOT A HARD COVER AS STATED IN THE ABOVE PRODUCT DETAILS. 8 - 7/22 - CHKD. 169 - 1/20 - CHKD. BOOK 1 SHLF 1. Book Type: Paperback. Pages: 260.

About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherHarvard University Press

ISBN-100674008936

ISBN-139780674008939

eBay Product ID (ePID)2227564

Product Key Features

Book TitleStories of Freedom in Black New York

Number of Pages272 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication Year2002

TopicSlavery, United States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (DC, De, Md, NJ, NY, Pa), Sociology / General, United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877), Ethnic Studies / African American Studies, African American, Sociology / Urban

IllustratorYes

GenreSocial Science, History

AuthorShane White

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Weight16.4 Oz

Item Length8.2 in

Item Width5.5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN2002-068540

Dewey Edition21

ReviewsThe early decades of the nineteenth century were turbulent as blacks and whites struggled with the end of slavery in New York. It was an era marked by race riots, forced segregation, and degrading depictions of black life, even as whites demonstrated a voyeuristic fascination with New York's black citizenry...[White] focuses on a black theater group, its leading actor, James Hewlett, and a Jewish newspaper editor, Mordecai Noah, as telling representatives of how blacks sought to express their freedom and whites sought to keep them in their place...White captures the vibrancy and difficulties of the era when a distinct black culture began to emerge, and draws parallels to the current American cultural mélange and contemporary racial attitudes., This is a rich and insightful book. Shane White draws on his extensive knowledge of black New York and on painstaking research to reconstruct two obscure stories. One is of the African Company, the first theatrical group to be conducted by African American, which functioned in New York City from 1821-23...The other is of one of its actors, James Hewlett...who was for a time the most prominent black actor working in the United States...White's accounts of Hewlett and the theatre are fascinating in themselves, but the real interest lies in the skill with which he weaves them into the bigger story of African New York at the end of slavery...Shane White is to be congratulated for so ably recovering that moment of possibilities., Shane White's short but creative book about "slavery and its lingering death" and the struggle over the "boundaries of freedom" listens closely to black New Yorkers' stories, evocatively bringing them to life for contemporary readers., A dazzling history of the first African-American theater company in New York, focusing on principal actor James Hewlett...Superb, well-researched history, brilliantly alive., Shane White's superb history of black life in New York during the early 19th century examines African-American culture from the bottom (instead of from the top) by focusing on the audacious African Company, a theatrical group that dared to present Shakespeare with non-white casts for non-white audiences. The author also describes the growth of minstrels, black dialect and social opportunity in this extremely important book., A treasure of historical thinking, a beautifully composed study, an extraordinary book to read...As moving and erudite a meditation as you will find on African Americans at a historical juncture when things might have turned out differently. White's point of departure is the wave of optimism and hope that surged through the black community on the heels of freedom, conferring an "edgy vitality" on street life, politics, colloquial speech, and theater in the 1820s and 1830s...The core of White's account is the story of James Hewlett, the pre-eminent black Shakespearean of his day, who played Richard in the African Company's production. With extraordinary deftness and perseverance, White has put together his biography from faint traces that Hewlett left in the historical record., Claiming New York's public space as their own through balls, music, fashion, and language, Hewlett and his fellow actors are presented as both theater pioneers and forerunners of the dynamic and exhilarating New York we know today...[A] thought-provoking analysis., New York abolition, which was formally granted in 1817 but not fully carried out until July 4, 1827, complicated the social structure of the state and city during an awkward, staggered process. During this period a theater troupe called the African Company emerged. White...reconstructs the vital life of this troupe in the New York of the 1820s, situating its struggles within the larger context of a sometimes exuberant yet uneasy time...[White] makes a persuasive case for the company's cultural importance, particularly as a forerunner of the Harlem Renaissance that was still a century away.

Dewey Decimal974.7/100496073

Table Of ContentIntroduction 1. The End of Slavery 2. Staging Freedom 3. Shakespeare's True Representative 4. Imitation Epilogue Notes Acknowledgments Index

SynopsisWhite recreates the experience of black New Yorkers as they moved from slavery to freedom. Through research, he imaginatively recovers the racous world of the street, the elegance of the city's African American balls and the grubbiness of the Police Office.

LC Classification NumberF128.9.N4W48 2002