Forging Freedom

The Formation of Philadelphia's Black Community, 1720-1840

By: Gary B. Nash

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Paperback | 1 March 1991 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
372 Pages

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2.39 x 1.67 x 0.2

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This book is the first to trace the good and bad fortunes, over more than a century, of the earliest large free black community in the United States. Gary Nash shows how, from colonial times through the Revolution and into the turbulent 1830s, blacks in the City of Brotherly Love struggled to shape a family life, gain occupational competence, organize churches, establish neighborhoods and social networks, advance cultural institutions, educate their children in schools, forge a political consciousness, and train black leaders who would help abolish slavery. These early generations of urban blacks-many of them newly emancipated-constructed a rich and varied community life.

Nash's account includes elements of both poignant triumph and profound tragedy. Keeping in focus both the internal life of the black community and race relations in Philadelphia generally, he portrays first the remarkable vibrancy of black institution-building, ordinary life, and relatively amicable race relations, and then rising racial antagonism. The promise of a racially harmonious society that took form in the postrevolutionary era, involving the integration into the white republic of African people brutalized under slavery, was ultimately unfulfilled. Such hopes collapsed amid racial conflict and intensifying racial discrimination by the 1820s. This failure of the great and much-watched "Philadelphia experiment" prefigured the course of race relations in America in our own century, an enduringly tragic part of this country's past.

Industry Reviews

Now comes this superbly written book by Gary Nash, one of the prolific scholars on the subject, on the early history of the races at a particularly crucial juncture that occurred in the city of Philadelphia that sheds insight into the entire process...A particular strength of his work lies in his detailing of the resiliency and creativity of black culture in the city. -- Joseph Boskin Los Angeles Times Book Review Nash's book is a major contribution to our understanding of black life in the early American republic; it is a vivid and compelling account of the evolution of Philadelphia's black community in a period of increasing raciam. -- Eric Foner American Historical Review A compelling view of the development of black urban culture and society in Philadelphia. Masterfully researched and skillfully combining social scientific data and traditional documents, this work succeeds admirably as narrative and analysis. It easily ranks among the best work in the fields of black urban history and early American race relations. -- Waldo E. Martin, Jr. William and Mary Quarterly

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction History Specific Events & Topics in History Social & Cultural History Society & Culture Social Groups Ethnic Studies Black & Asian Studies Sociology & Anthropology Sociology Population & Demography Regional & National History

History of the Americas Social Issues & Processes Social Discrimination & Inequality

Introduction
Slavery and Antislavery in the Capital of Conscience
The Black Revolution in Philadelphia
Becoming Free
""To Arise Out of the Dust""
A City of Refuge
Establishing the Color Line
The Bittersweet Cup of Freedom
The Dream Deferred
Abbreviations
Notes
Index
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Forging Freedom

The Formation of Philadelphia's Black Community, 1720-1840

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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