African Americans in the Colonial Era: From African Origins Through the American Revolution, 4th edition

What are the origins of slavery and race–based prejudice in the mainland American colonies? How did the Atlantic slave trade operate to supply African labor to colonial America? How did African–American culture form and evolve? How did the American Revolution affect men and women of African descent?

Previous editions of this work depicted African–Americans in the American mainland colonies as their contemporaries saw them: as persons from one of the four continents who interacted economically, socially, and politically in a vast, complex Atlantic world. It showed how the society that resulted in colonial America reflected the mix of Atlantic cultures and that a group of these people eventually used European ideas to support creation of a favorable situation for those largely of European descent, omitting Africans, who constituted their primary labor force.

In this fourth edition of African Americans in the Colonial Era: From African Origins through the American Revolution, acclaimed scholar Donald R. Wright offers new interpretations to provide a clear understanding of the Atlantic slave trade and the nature of the early African–American experience. This revised edition incorporates the latest data, a fresh Atlantic perspective, and an updated bibliographical essay to thoroughly explore African–Americans African origins, their experience crossing the Atlantic, and their existence in colonial America in a broadened, more nuanced way.