Slavery and Freedom in the Rural North: African Americans in Monmouth County, New Jersey, 1665-1865
Although the plight of African slaves in the American South has been well documented, scholars have paid much less attention to their Northern counterparts. By focusing on a community in eastern New Jersey from Colonial times through the Civil War, Hodges (Colgate Univ.) shows that black subjugation and mistreatment was not confined to tobacco and cotton plantations. Indeed, although gradual emancipation became New Jersey law in 1804, in eastern New Jersey African Americans were enslaved into the 1850s. Moreover, free blacks struggled against discrimination, exploitation, and disfranchisement. They struggled together, however, and maintained a community culture. Hodges's meticulously documented and beautifully written social history offers valuable insight into the harsh conditions of African American life and race relations in the rural antebellum North. Highly recommended.?Raymond J. Palin, St. Thomas Univ., Miami, Fla.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.