Hard Road to Freedom Volume One The Story of Black America

Hard Road to Freedom tells the story of Black Americans from its roots in Africa to the social and political upheavals of today. It narrates the story of Black people in America as an expression of one of the nation's fundamental principles, the pursuit of freedom. Interweaving the experiences of individual Black Americans, it brings together stories formerly told separately. In vividly written chapters, Lois E. Horton and James Oliver Horton depict African Americans' central part in the creation of American civilization. Meticulously researched, Hard Road to Freedom blends these diverse strands into a rich tapestry of African American struggle and achievement.

List of Maps
List of Special Features
Preface
Acknowledgements
About the Authors


Chapter 1 - Africa and the Atlantic Slave Trade
West Africa
Europeans and the African Slave Trade
The Middle Passage
Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Profile: King Nzinga Mbemba Affonso
Documenting Black America: King Nzinga Mbemba Affonso letters to King Jo?o III of Portugal

Chapter 2 - The Evolution of Slavery in British North America
Slavery in the Chesapeake
Slavery Farther South
Slavery in the Middle Colonies
Slavery in New England
Enslaved and Free Blacks
Blacks and Native Americans
Colonial Black Culture
Profile: Anthony Johnson
Documenting Black America: Venture Smith
Documenting Black America: Report of Rebellion Plans in Virginia

Chapter 3 - Slavery and Freedom in the Age of Revolution
Social Disruption and the First Great Awakening
Interracial Relationships and Discontent
Crispus Attucks and the Boston Massacre
Revolution and the Fight for American Freedom
Black Soliders
The Post-Revolutionary Question of Black Freedom
Profile: Phillis Wheatley
Documenting Black America: Petition for Freedom by Enslaved People in Massachusetts

Chapter 4 - The Early Republic and the Rise of the Cotton Kingdom
The Question of Slavery in the New Nation
Southern Fears of Black Freedom
Growing Demand for Enslaved Labor in the Western South
Expanding the Internal Slave Trade
Establishing Free Black Communities in the North
Free Black Americans in the South
African Americans in the War of 1812
The Issue of African Colonization
Profile: Benjamin Banneker
Documenting Black America: Benjamin Banneker's letter to Thomas Jefferson

Chapter 5 - Slavery and the Slave Community
Violent Resistance
Community among the Enslaved Workers
Religion and Resistance
Surviving Slavery
Women in Slavery
Brutal Labor and Resistance
Profile: Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima
Documenting Black America: Harriet Jacobs

Chapter 6 - Free People of Color and the Fight against Slavery
David Walker, William Lloyd Garrison, and the Liberator
Integrated Abolitionism
Black National Conventions
Building an Antislavery Movement
The Underground Railroad
Militant Abolitionism and Political Power
Profile: William Still
Documenting Black America: Henry Highland Garnet

Chapter 7 - From Militancy to Civil War
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Growing Opposition
Dred Scott v. Sanford
John Brown's Raid at Harpers Ferry
Abraham Lincoln's Election and the War
The Emancipation Proclamation and Black Soldiers
Profile: Margaret Garner
Documenting Black America: Susie King Taylor (1848-1912)

Chapter 8 - From Reconstruction to Jim Crow
The War's End and Lincoln's Assassination
Aid for Freed People
Black Politics and Black Politicians
Progress and White Terrorist Backlash
Emigration from the South
Legalized Racial Control
Profile: Hiram Rhoades Revels
Documenting Black America: The Reconstruction Amendments


Appendix: Historical Documents
Glossary
Notes
Credits
Index