defined primarily by the conception of race. He examines transformations in the politics, social structures, and religions of slave populations through 1830, by which time the contours of a new African American identity had begun to emerge.
After discussing specific ethnic groups in Africa, Gomez follows their movement to North America, where they tended to be amassed in recognizable concentrations within individual colonies (and, later, states). For this reason, he argues, it is possible to identify particular ethnic cultural influences and ensuing social formations that heretofore have been considered unrecoverable. Using sources pertaining to the African continent
as well as runaway slave advertisements, ex-slave narratives, and folklore, Gomez reveals concrete and specific links between particular African populations and their North American progeny, thereby shedding new light on subsequent African American social formation.
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9780807846940
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Publication Date: 03-30-1998
Pages: 384
Product Dimensions: 9.20h x 6.20w x 0.90d
About the Author
Michael A. Gomez is a professor of history at New York University.