Black Savannah, 1788–1864

In the tradition of Gary Nash, Whittington B. Johnson excavates the history of an urban black community forged during the promise of the Revolution but tempered by the realities of slavery and race. With his attention to women and men, to the elasticity of racial controls as well as the strictures of race and slavery, and to the ways blacks ordered their own social and cultural space, Johnson provides a sensitive and sensible view of a people in the process of becoming African-American. More important, his layered reading of black Savannah culture and experience, from birth to burial, reminds us how much the meaning of race derived from the character of each particular place.” —Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia

Whittington B. Johnson is professor emeritus in the department of history at the University of Miami. He is the author of three books and many articles about African American and Bahamian history, including “Race Relations in the Bahamas, 1784-1834,”