The Struggle Against Slavery ─ A History in Documents

From slave ships to plantations to freedom, The Struggle Against Slavery traces the remarkable history of the heroic fight to end slavery, from its North American beginnings in the early 1600s to its violent demise in the mid-1800s with the Civil War. Captured in their own words from transcripts, diaries, memoirs, newspaper clippings, drawings, and other documents are the stories of how slaves and free blacks fought against the dehumanization of slavery by developing anti-racist arguments, creating their own institutions, physically escaping, and fighting with weapons. An exceptional social, political, and cultural history of the period, The Struggle Against Slavery is filled with stirring tales of survival and strength, bringing to life the African-American experience in early America.

David Waldstreicher is Association Professor of History at Temple University. His recent works include Runaway America : Benjamin Franklin, Slavery, and the American Revolution (Hill and Wang, 2004) and The Envisioning America and Notes on the State of Virginia and Confessions of: Nat Turner (Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002).