Stories of Freedom in Black New Yorkrecreates 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 Yorkbrilliantly 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.

Shane White's superb history of black life in New York during the early 19th century examines African-American culture from the bottom (instead of from the top) by focusing on the audacious African Company, a theatrical group that dared to present Shakespeare with non-white casts for non-white audiences. The author also describes the growth of minstrels, black dialect and social opportunity in this extremely important book.

Claiming New York's public space as their own through balls, music, fashion, and language, Hewlett and his fellow actors are presented as both theater pioneers and forerunners of the dynamic and exhilarating New York we know today...[A] thought-provoking analysis.

A treasure of historical thinking, a beautifully composed study, an extraordinary book to read...As moving and erudite a meditation as you will find on African Americans at a historical juncture when things might have turned out differently. White's point of departure is the wave of optimism and hope that surged through the black community on the heels of freedom, conferring an "edgy vitality" on street life, politics, colloquial speech, and theater in the 1820s and 1830s...The core of White's account is the story of James Hewlett, the pre-eminent black Shakespearean of his day, who played Richard in the African Company's production. With extraordinary deftness and perseverance, White has put together his biography from faint traces that Hewlett left in the historical record.

With Stories of Freedom in Black New York, Shane White reinforces his position as one of the most innovative interpreters of African American culture. In this stunning work, deeply researched and narratively compelling, White explores theatrical life to deepen our appreciation of the diverse ways in which black New Yorkers defined and manifested their newly won freedom.

This stunning account of early black New Yorkers strutting and staging their freedom achieves its authority by recreating the pressure cooker that was gradual emancipation in the most influential city of North America. No one knows more about black street life in early nineteenth century New York City than Shane White, and no one tells it better.

A dazzling history of the first African-American theater company in New York, focusing on principal actor James Hewlett...Superb, well-researched history, brilliantly alive.

New York abolition, which was formally granted in 1817 but not fully carried out until July 4, 1827, complicated the social structure of the state and city during an awkward, staggered process. During this period a theater troupe called the African Company emerged. White...reconstructs the vital life of this troupe in the New York of the 1820s, situating its struggles within the larger context of a sometimes exuberant yet uneasy time...[White] makes a persuasive case for the company's cultural importance, particularly as a forerunner of the Harlem Renaissance that was still a century away.

The African Grove Theater is to African American performing arts what Mother Bethel is to African American religion. Stories of Freedom in Black New Yorkis the best history of that landmark institution, while also tracing the transit of black people from slavery to freedom in New York. It sparkles with original insights into life in the new Republic.

Shane White's short but creative book about "slavery and its lingering death" and the struggle over the "boundaries of freedom" listens closely to black New Yorkers' stories, evocatively bringing them to life for contemporary readers.

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.

Shane Whiteis Professor of History at the <>University of Sydney.

Introduction

1. The End of Slavery

2. Staging Freedom

3. Shakespeare's True Representative

4. Imitation

Epilogue

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index