African Americans in Early Albany

A Basic Reading List
More timely than 1998 - but not comprehensively

The following recently published (an otherwise presented) works are recommended toward understanding the African experience in early America and for early Albany in particular. They have been useful to Colonial Albany Project members in helping focus our research on African Americans in early Albany and for developing conceptual frameworks for the “First African American Families” article and additional project programming. This list is informal and is intended to be open-ended. All suggestions are welcome.

Berlin, Ira and Ronald Hoffman, eds., Slavery and Freedom in the Age of the American Revolution (Charlottesville, VA: 1983).

Berlin, Ira, Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America (Cambridge, MA: 1998).

Curry, Leonard P., The Free Black in Urban America, 1800-1850: The Shadow of a Dream (Chicago: 1981).

Davis, Thomas J., A Rumor of Revolt: The Great Negro Plot in Colonial New York (New York: 1985).

Ferguson, Leland, Uncommon Ground: The Archaeology of Early African America, 1650-1800  (Washington, DC: 1992).

Foner, Philip S., Blacks in the American Revolution (Westport, CT: 1975).

Gilje, Paul A. and Howard B. Rock, eds., Keepers of the Revolution: New Yorkers at Work in the Early Republic  (Ithaca, NY: 1992).

Goodfriend, Joyce D., Before the Melting Pot: Society and Culture in Colonial New York City, 1664-1730 (Princeton, NJ: 1992).

Hodges, Graham R., Slavery and Freedom in the Rural North: African Americans in Monmouth County, New Jersey, 1665-1865 (Madison, WI: 1997).

Horton, James Oliver, Free People of Color: Inside the African American Community (Washington, DC: 1993).

Hughes, Marian I., Refusing Ignorance: The Struggle to Educate Black Children in albany, New York, 1816-1873 (Albany: Mt. Ida Press, 1998).

Jordan, Winthrop P., White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812  (Chapel Hill, NC: 1968), a still indispensable primer.

Kaplan, Sydney and Emma Nogrady Kaplan, The Black Presence in the Era of the American Revolution (Amherst, MA: 1989).

Kruger, Vivienne L., "Born to Run: The Slave Family in early New York, 1626-1827" (Ph. D. dissertation, Columbia University, 1985). Wonderfully shared online in 2007.

Mabee, Carleton, Black Education in New York State: From Colonial to Modern Times (Syracuse: 1979).

Nash, Gary B., Forging Freedom: The Formation of Philadelphia's Black Community, 1720-1840 (Cambridge, MA: 1988).

Pierson, William D., Black Yankees: The Development of an Afro-American Subculture in Eighteenth-Century New England  (Amherst, MA: 1988).

Sobel, Mechal, Trabelin'On: The Slave Journey to an Afro-Baptist Faith (Westport, CT: 1978).

Thomas, Lamont D., Paul Cuffee: Black Entrepreneur and Pan Africanist (Urbana, IL: 1986).

Verter, Bradford, "Interracial Festivity and Power in Antebellum New York: The Case of Pinkster," in Journal of Urban History 28:4 (2002), pp. 398-428.

White, Shane, ed., "Pinkster in Albany, 1803: A Contemporary Description," New York History 70:2(April 1989), pp. 191-199.

White, Shane, Somewhat More Independent: The End of Slavery in New York City, 1770-1810 (Athens, GA: 1991).

Afro-Americans in New York Life and History (semi-annual journal), published by the Afro-American Historical Society of the Niagara Frontier, Box 63, Buffalo, NY  14207

Yoshpe, Harry B. "Record of Slave Manumissions in New York During the Colonial and Early National Periods ," The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Jan., 1941), pp. 78-107. Separate publication

List of resources from the NYGBS.


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first posted: 1998; last revised: 6/5/13