"By following the story of my great-grandmother Isabella Ford's life, and adding to it with information from available sources, I have been able to get a better understanding of the circumstances of Lancaster's free blacks. Her story provides a sense of life in mid-nineteenth century Lancaster County and shows how free black families held their own, despite an environment that was often unfriendly and that restricted their opportunities by both law and custom."
Movement and place in the African American past -- The transatlantic passage -- The passage to the interior -- The passage to the north -- Global passages.
Summary
Four great migrations defined the history of black people in America: the violent removal of Africans to the east coast of North America known as the Middle Passage; the relocation of one million slaves to the interior of the antebellum South; the movement of six million blacks to the industrial cities of the north and west a century later; and, since the late 1960s, the arrival of black immigrants from Africa, the Americas, and Europe. These epic migrations have made and remade African American life. This new account evokes both the terrible price and the moving triumphs of a people forcibly and then willingly migrating to America. Historian Ira Berlin finds a dynamic of change in which eras of deep rootedness alternate with eras of massive movement, tradition giving way to innovation. The culture of black America is constantly evolving, affected by (and affecting) places as far away from one another as Biloxi, Chicago, Kingston, and Lagos.--From publisher description.
Publications of the University of Pennsylvania. Series in political economy and public law, no. 14
Contents
Chapters: CHAPTER I. THE SCOPE OF THIS STUDY / CHAPTER II / THE PROBLEM / CHAPTER III. THE NEGRO IN PHILADELPHIA, 1638-1820 / CHAPTER IV. THE NEGRO IN PHILADELPHIA, 1820-1896 / CHAPTER V. THE SIZE, AGE AND SEX OF THE NEGRO POPULATION / CHAPTER VI. CONJUGAL CONDITION / CHAPTER VII. SOURCES OF THE NEGRO POPULATION / CHAPTER VIII. EDUCATION AND ILLITERACY / CHAPTER IX. THE OCCUPATIONS OF NEGROES / CHAPTER X. THE HEALTH OF NEGROES / CHAPTER XI. THE NEGRO FAMILY / CHAPTER XII. THE ORGANIZED LIFE OF NEGROES.CHAPTER / XIII. THE NEGRO CRIMINAL.CHAPTER / XIV. PAUPERISM AND ALCOHOLISM.CHAPTER / XV. THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE NEGRO.CHAPTER / XVI. THE CONTACT OF THE RACESCHAPTER / XVII. NEGRO SUFFRAGE.CHAPTER / XVIII. A FINAL WORD.
Chapters: The Meeting House Devil // Rum and Slavery // The Composite Puritan // The Personality of the Meeting House // The Summons To Worship // The Seating of the People // The Wretched Boys // Disturbers of Public Worship // The Neighbors of the Meeting House // The Comedy and Tragedy of the Pulpit // The Poor Parsons // The Notorious Ministers // The Simple Evangelist // The Muse of Choral Song // The Bible and the Confessional // The Hour Glass
Summary
The author uses the Colonial Meeting House as a central focus of the New England town and from it looks to other practices and customs to better illuminate life in the town and New England.
