Stories of freedom in Black New York
By: Shane White.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 260
Subjects: African Company (New York) -- History; 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; New York (N.Y.) -- History -- 1775-1865; New York (N.Y.) -- Race relations; New York (N.Y.) -- Intellectual life -- 19th century
Genres: Biography.
Description: "Stories of Freedom in Black New York re-creates 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 and to find a new sense of itself, and, in the process, it 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. He allows us to observe the style of black men and women, to watch their public behaviour, and to hear the cries of black hawkers, the strident music of black parades, and the sly stories of black con men.".

"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 excitement and hope among blacks, but often disgust among many whites for whom the theater's existence epitomized the horrors of emancipation.".

"Stories of Freedom in Black New York 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."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [227]-249) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: INTRODUCTION; title: 1 THE END OF SLAVERY 7; title: 2 STAGING FREEDOM 68; title: 3 SHAKESPEARE'S TRUE REPRESENTATIVE 127; title: 4 IMITATION 185; title: EPIL0GUE 219.