African Americans in the Colonial Era

Wright's book is memorable and powerful because he methodically tears away at the foundation of the conventional historical approach which has dealt primarily with only thirty years of an insidious institution which lasted for two hundred and fifty years, beginning with the arrival of the first slave in 1619.

It is Wright's unique aim to examine this understudied era of African Americans in slavery, and he succeeds in convincing this reader that the institution of slavery was even more evil and destructive than previously believed, and that its impact on the nation has been far more complex and long-lasting than portrayed in most historians' accounts. Wright is able to deal both with the sociological aspects, as well as the more personal and human areas of slavery, showing how slavery affected the nation racially as it evolved, and showing how slavery in different regions and at different times led to the development of very diffe

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ce in the two centuries since the end of that period. This traditional view sees black slavery as primarily existing in the South during a relatively brief period of time, sees blacks as homogeneous in experience and personal make-up, and sees the slavery period as generally irrelevant to the living patterns of blacks in the last years of the 20th century. Wright has written a book which is successful and invigorating in arguing that these are misconceptions. This book will change forever the minds of readers who harbor such misconceptions and are willing to question them. Wright's book deals with grand sociological aspects of slavery as well as with simple acceptance of the humanity of the slaves. For example, with respect to the latter subject, Wright says that slaves are seen historically as stereotypes---either complete victims of calculating tricksters intent on fooling the slavemasters. To the contrary, as Wright says, "They were normal human beings with complex characters who made rational decisions under varied and difficult circumstances" (4). The first section of the book, "Atlantic Origins," deals with many technical, economic and logistical aspects of the origins of slavery, but Wright is careful to keep in the read
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Approximate Word count = 1234
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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