Strange Ne Land Africans in Colonial America [Paperback]

Engaging and accessibly written,Strange New Landexplores the history of slavery and the struggle for freedom before the United States became a nation. Beginning with the colonization of North America, Peter Wood documents the transformation of slavery from a brutal form of indentured servitude to a full-blown system of racial domination.Strange New Landfocuses on how Africans survived this brutal process--and ultimately shaped the contours of American racial slavery through numerous means, including:
- Mastering English and making it their own
- Converting to Christianity and transforming the religion
- Holding fast to Islam or combining their spiritual beliefs with the faith of their masters
- Recalling skills and beliefs, dances and stories from the Old World, which provided a key element in their triumphant story of survival
- Listening to talk of liberty and freedom, of the rights of man and embracing it as a fundamental right--even petitioning colonial administrators and insisting on that right.

Against the troubling backdrop of American slavery,Strange New Landsurveys black social and cultural life, superbly illustrating how such a diverse group of people from the shores of West and Central Africa became a community in North America.

Wood offers a splendid synthesis of recent research for a lay reader's edification and, despite often horrific events, pleasure; the scholarly foundation upon which the book rests is hidden under its simple, straight-forward and graceful style. This is an amazing 'little' book, a really masterful distillation. --Publishers Weekly

While his selection of facts and figures is illuminating throughout, what makes the work a particular pleasure are Wood's inspired discussions; he ably links facts and puts them into larger contexts for readers. An obscure chapter in American history, rendered vividly. --Kirkus Reviews

Charts the arrival of lóX