"Stories of Freedom in Black New York" recreates the experience of
black New Yorkers as they moved from slavery to freedom. In the
early decades of the nineteenth century, New York City's black
community strove to realize what freedom meant, to find a new sense
of itself, and, in the process, created a vibrant urban culture.
Through exhaustive research, Shane White imaginatively recovers the
raucous world of the street, the elegance of the city's African
American balls, and the grubbiness of the Police Office. It allows
us to observe the style of black men and women, to watch their
public behavior, and to hear the cries of black hawkers, the
strident music of black parades, and the sly stories of black
conmen.
Taking center stage in this story is the African Company, a
black theater troupe that exemplified the new spirit of
experimentation that accompanied slavery's demise. For a few short
years in the 1820s, a group of black New Yorkers, many of them
ex-slaves, challenged pervasive prejudice and performed plays,
including Shakespearean productions, before mixed race audiences.
Their audacity provoked feelings of excitement and hope among
blacks, but often of disgust by many whites for whom the theater's
existence epitomized the horrors of emancipation.
"Stories of Freedom in Black New York" brilliantly intertwines
black theater and urban life into a powerful interpretation of what
the end of slavery meant for blacks, whites, and New York City
itself. White's story of the emergence of free black culture offers
a unique understanding of emancipation's impact on everyday life,
and on the many forms freedom can take.
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