Creating Black Americans

by Nell Irvin Painter

"Here is an account of a past rich in beauty and creativity, but also in tragedy and trauma. Historian Nell Irvin Painter blends a vivid narrative based on the latest research with a wonderful array of artwork by African-American artists, works which add a new depth to our understanding of black history." "Painter offers a history written for a new generation of African Americans, stretching from life in Africa before slavery to today's hip-hop culture. The book describes the staggering number of Africans - over ten million - forcibly transported to the New World, most doomed to brutal servitude in Brazil and the Caribbean. Painter looks at the free black population, numbering close to half a million by 1860 (compared to almost four million slaves), and provides a gripping account of the horrible conditions of slavery itself. The book examines the Civil War, revealing that it only slowly became a war to end slavery, and shows how Reconstruction, after a promising start, was shut down b