In the Shadow of Slavery

A new edition of a classic work revealing the little-known history of African Americans in New York City before Emancipation.

Popular understanding of the history of slavery in America has a crucial gap: It almost entirely ignores its extensive reach in the North. But the cities of the North were built by—and became the home of—tens of thousands of enslaved African Americans, many of whom would continue to live there as free people after Emancipation.

In the Shadow of Slavery turns to New York City to reveal the history of African Americans in the nation’s largest city. Drawing on extensive travel accounts, autobiographies, newspapers, literature, and organizational records, Leslie M. Harris extends beyond prior studies of racial discrimination by tracing the undeniable impact of African Americans on class, politics, and community formation. She offers vivid portraits of the lives and aspirations of countless black New Yorkers.

This new edition includes an afterword by the author addressing subsequent research and the ongoing arguments about how slavery and its legacy should be taught, memorialised, and acknowledged by government.