The transatlantic slave trade brought individuals from diverse African regions and cultures to a common destiny in the American South. In this comprehensive study, Michael Gomez establishes tangible links between the African American community and its African origins and traces the process by which African populations exchanged their distinct ethnic identities for one
defined primarily by the conception of race. He examines transformations in the politics, social structures, and religions of slave populations through 1830, by which time the contours of a new African American identity had begun to emerge.
After discussing specific ethnic groups in Africa, Gomez follows their movement to North America, where they tended to be amassed in recognizable concentrations within individual colonies (and, later, states). For this reason, he argues, it is possible to identify particular ethnic cultural influences and ensuing social formations that heretofore have been considered unrecoverable. Using sources pertaining to the African continent
as well as runaway slave advertisements, ex-slave narratives, and folklore, Gomez reveals concrete and specific links between particular African populations and their North American progeny, thereby shedding new light on subsequent African American social formation.
Amazon.com Review
With its legacy of brutality and of the horrific overseas passage, the transatlantic slave trade may be imagined as the kidnapping of Africans without regard to nationality or ethnicity. Based on his research, however, Michael A. Gomez suggests that Africans, upon arriving in America, were dispersed much more closely along ethnic and cultural lines than previously acknowledged. The underlying theme of his provocative work, Exchanging Our Country Marks, is that while blacks eventually replaced their African ethnic identities with new racial ones after arriving in the American South, they retained much of their original cultures far longer than was originally suspected. Some of his most interesting evidence of this comes in the form of runaway-slave advertisements, which identified the slaves by their ethnic roots (“Dinah, an Ebo wench that speaks very good English”). By scrutinizing ex-slave narratives, stories, music, and even the location and nature of slave rebellions, Gomez pieces together a genealogy of blacks in the American South, attempting to examine their notions of identity. Of course, much is based on significant speculation, a fact that only underscores the difficulty of such scholarship. Gomez manages to present a wide range of information clearly as he expands on a wealth of recent research regarding the slave trade and the history of blacks in America, making Exchanging Our Country Marks a vast and creative exploration of African identity in the United States from 1526 to 1830.
Review
[A] conceptual “tour de force”. No brief review can do justice to the nuances and complexities of Gomez’s argument.
“Southern Cultures”
Gomez gracefully and distinctively enlivens slaves understandings of themselves as Igbo, Muslims, parents, children, and–eventually– Africans and Americans.
“Journal of Southern History”
[A] conceptual “tour de force,” No brief review can do justice to the nuances and complexities of Gomez’s argument.
“Southern Cultures”
ÝA¨ conceptual “tour de force.” No brief review can do justice to the nuances and complexities of Gomez’s argument.
“Southern Cultures”
ÝA¨ rare and creative inquiry into the origins of African identity in the United States from 1526 to 1830.
“Gaither Reporter”
“Gomez gracefully and distinctively enlivens slavesU understandings of themselves as Igbo, Muslims, parents, children, and–eventually–UAfricansU and Americans.
“Journal of Southern History””
[A] conceptual “tour de force.” No brief review can do justice to the nuances and complexities of Gomez’s argument.
“Southern Cultures”
[A] rare and creative inquiry into the origins of African identity in the United States from 1526 to 1830.
“Gaither Reporter”
Deeply researched in both African and North American sources.
“nternational Journal of African Historical Studies”
Gomez has yoked his admirable grasp of recent advances in African historiography with a subtle and sensitive reading of slavery.
“American Historical Review”
Review
A well-researched, carefully delineated study.–Choice
From the Inside Flap
Recovers
the diverse ethnic roots of Africans brought into slavery in the American South by identifying concrete links between African populations and their North American progeny.
From the Back Cover
Recovers
the diverse ethnic roots of Africans brought into slavery in the American South by identifying concrete links between African populations and their North American progeny.
About the Author
Michael A. Gomez is a professor of history at New York University.
- Publisher : The University of North Carolina Press; New edition (March 30, 1998)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0807846945
- ISBN-13 : 978-0807846940
- Lexile measure : 1580L
- Item Weight : 1.25 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.13 x 0.96 x 9.25 inches
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