From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans

Since its original publication in 1947, From Slavery to Freedom has maintained its preeminence as the most authoritative history of African Americans. Surveying a vast human odyssey of more than a thousand years, co-authors John Hope Franklin and Alfred A. Moss, Jr., vividly detail the journey of African Americans from their origin in the civilizations of Africa, through slavery in the Western Hemisphere, to the successful struggle for freedom in the West Indies, Latin America, and the United States. This seventh edition has been thoroughly revised to include expanded coverage of Africa, additional material on the situation of African Americans in the United States, and two new four-page color inserts. The authors discuss the history of blacks in the Caribbean and Latin America as it relates to the history of African Americans in the United States. Incorporating recent scholarship, chapters covering slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction have been rewritten. Material covering the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century has been expanded. The period between World War I and World War II (including the Harlem Renaissance) has also been extensively revised to reflect new scholarship and new interpretations. In keeping with the authors' view that this is a history of all the people, there has been a significant increase in material dealing with popular culture. All who are interested in the current quest for equality of African Americans will find a wealth of information based on recent findings and from many scholars. Professors Franklin and Moss have captured the tragedies and triumphs, the hurts and joys, the failures and successes, of blacks in a lively and readable style.