Africans in America
America's Journey Through Slavery
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A riveting narrative history of America, from the 1607 landing in Jamestown to the brink of the Civil War, Africans in America tells the shared history of Africans and Europeans as seen through the lens of slavery. It is told from the point of view of the Africans who arrived in shackles and endured the terrible dichotomy of this new land founded on the ideal of liberty but dedicated to the perpetuation of slavery. Meticulously researched, this book weaves together the experiences of the colonists, slaves, free and fugitive blacks, and abolitionists to present an utterly original document, a startling and moving drama of the effects of slavery and racism on our conflicted national identity. The result transcends history as we were taught it and transforms the way we see our past.
Charles Johnson
Charles Johnson is the National Book Awardwinning author of Middle Passage and a novelist, essayist, literary scholar, philosopher, cartoonist, screenwriter, and professor emeritus at the University of Washington. A MacArthur fellow, his acclaimed work explores race, identity, culture, and philosophical questions, and his books include Night Hawks, Dr. Kings Refrigerator, Dreamer, Faith and the Good Thing, and Middle Passage. In 2002, he received the Arts and Letters Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He lives in Seattle.
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