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A Forgotten History: The Slave Trade and Slavery in New England, Choices for the 21st Century Education Program, Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, (2008). This work provides an overview of enslavement and the human trade of Africans in New England from the colonial period through the Revolutionary War. Based on primary sources and quotes it is an ideal teaching tool for instructors and students with an interest in this period of US history.
All Saints: New and Selected Poems, Brenda Marie Osbey, Louisiana State University Press (1997). “Brenda Marie Osbey invokes, impersonates and converses with her Afro-New Orleans forebears – both blood ancestors and spiritual predecessors – weaving in hypnotic cadence and spells as potent as the religious and magical mysteries of her native culture.” [Goodreads Review]
“The Haitian Revolution,” by Franklin W. Knight, American Historical Review (Feb, 2000), pp103, 105. According to Professor Knight the Haitian revolution served as a model for rebellion and resistance against enslavement and oppression among many people in the Western Hemisphere during the 19th century. He states that its influence is seldom acknowledged and little known to many who study this period of American history.
Negro President by Gary Wills, Houghton Mifflin Company (2003). Historian Wills in describing the first eighty years of this nation explains how and why southern states through enslavement of black people obtained and maintained political dominance over the country and its policies. He presents the case that in agreeing to the federal ratio during the Constitutional Convention the founding fathers set the country on a course of action contrary to its stated principles of liberty, justice equality and freedom that could only have ended in civil war.
The Present is a Dangerous Place to Live by Keorapetse Kgositsile, Third World Press (1974). “The poems are penned by a South African who observed and absorbed the culture of African Americans. These verses contain his observations of this black culture and the connections with his native South Africa.” [Goodreads Review]
The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution: 1710-1823 by David Brion Davis, Oxford University Press (1999). Davis chronicles and describes in detail the evolution of anti-slavery sentiment and thought. Putting the consequences of a philosophy developed during Europe’s 18th Century of Enlightenment in sequence, Davis presents us with a time table and geographic tracking of human progress even if limited only to European catalysts.
Revolts, Protests, Demonstrations and Rebellion in American History: An Encyclopedia, Volumes 1-3 by Steven L. Danver, ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, CA (2011). Much like Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present, this work presents history from an uncommon perspective. Danver argues and provides documented history that supports his view that protest, rebellions and revolts had more weight in developing and insuring US principles of justice, civil rights and equality than any other citizen/resident process. He rejects accepted notions of consensus and majority rule as nudging this nation towards realization of its ideals.
There Is a River: The Black Struggle for Freedom in America, by Vincent Harding, Harcourt Brace and Co., (1981). This time-honored opus of Dr. Harding provides a description and analysis of African American struggle and resistance during the human trade, through enslavement and emancipation to the present. It is required reading for anyone desiring knowledge and direction in understanding and appreciating our history.