Pamphlets of Protest: An Anthology of Early African-American Protest Literature, 1790-1860

Between the Revolution and the Civil War, African-American writing became a prominent feature of both black protest culture and American public life. Although denied a political voice in national affairs, black authors produced a wide range of literature to project their views into the public sphere. Autobiographies and personal narratives told of slavery's horrors, newspapers railed against racism in its various forms, and poetry, novellas, reprinted sermons and speeches told tales of racial uplift and redemption. The editors examine the important and previously overlooked pamphleteering tradition and offer new insights into how and why the printed word became so important to black activists during this critical period. An introduction by the editors situates the pamphlets in their various social, economic and political contexts. This is the first book to capture the depth of black print culture before the Civil War by examining perhaps its most important form, the pamphlet.

Author: Richard Newman
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 10/25/2000
Pages: 334
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.29lbs
Size: 10.00h x 7.00w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9780415924443

Review Citation(s):
Choice 09/01/2001 pg. 190

About the Author

Richard Newman is Assistant Professor of History at the Rochester Institute of Technology; Patrick Rael is Assistant Professor of History at Bowdoin College; and Phillip Lapsansky is an archivist at the Library Company of Philadelphia.