More than any other text, The African-American Odyssey illuminates the central place of African Americans in U.S. history – not only telling the story of what it has meant to be black in America, but also how African-American history is inseparably weaved into the greater context of American history and vice versa.   Told through a clear, direct, and flowing narrative by leading scholars in the field, The African-American Odyssey draws on recent research to present black history within broad social, cultural, and political frameworks.  From Africa to the Twenty-First Century, this book follows their long, turbulent journey, including the rich culture that African Americans have nurtured throughout their history and the many-faceted quest for freedom in which African Americans have sought to counter oppression and racism.  This text also recognizes the diversity within the African-American sphere — providing coverage of all class and of women and balancing the lives of ordinary men and women with the accounts and actions of black leaders and individuals.

Table of Contents:
PART I  Becoming African American   1  Africa       A Huge and Diverse Land       The Birthplace of Humanity       Ancient Civilizations and Old Arguments       West Africa       Kongo and Angola       West African Society and Culture     2 Middle Passage       The European Age of Exploration and Colonization       The Slave Trade in Africa       The Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade       Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade       The African-American Ordeal from Capture to Destination       Landing and Sale in the West Indies       Seasoning       The End of the Journey: Masters and Slaves in the Americas       The Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade     3  Black People in Colonial North America, 1526–1763       The Peoples of Eastern North America       Black Servitude in the Chesapeake       PlantationSlavery, 1700–1750       Slave Life in Early America       Miscegenation and Creolization       The Origins of African-American Culture       Slavery in the Northern Colonies       Slavery in Spanish Florida and French Louisiana       Black Women in Colonial America       Black Resistance and Rebellion     4  Rising Expectations: African Americans and the Struggle for Independence, 1763–1783       The Crisis of the British Empire       The Declaration of Independence and African Americans       Black Enlightenment       African Americans in the War for Independence      The Revolution and Emancipation     5  African Americans in the New Nation, 1783–1820       Forces for Freedom       Forces for Slavery       The Emergence of Free Black Communities       The War of 1812     PART II  Slavery, Abolition, and the Quest for Freedom: The Coming of the Civil War, 1793–1861   6 Life in the Cotton Kingdom       The Expansion of Slavery       Slave Labor in Agriculture       House Servants and Skilled Slaves       Slave Families       The Socialization of Slaves       Religion       The Character of Slavery and Slaves     7  Free Black People in Antebellum America, 1820-1861     Demographics of Freedom       The Jacksonian Era       Limited Freedom in the North       Black Communities in the Urban North       African-American Institutions       Free African Americans in the Upper South      Free African Americans in the Deep South     8  Opposition to Slavery, 1800–1833       Abolitionism Begins in America       From Gabriel to Denmark Vesey       A Country in Turmoil       Black Abolitionist Women        The Baltimore Alliance       David Walker and Nat Turner     9  Let Your Motto Be Resistance, 1833–1850       A Rising Tide of Racism and Violence        Black Community Institutions       The American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society and the Liberty Party       A More Aggressive Abolitionism       Black Militancy     10  “And Black People Were at the Heart of It”: The United States Disunites Over Slavery       The Lure of the West     Fugitive Slaves       The Rochester Convention, 1853      Nativism and the Know-Nothings       Uncle Tom’s Cabin       The Kansas-Nebraska Act       Preston Brooks Attacks Charles Sumner      The Dred Scott Decision       White Northerners and Black Americans       The Lincoln-Douglas Debates       Abraham Lincoln and Black People      John Brown and the Raid on Harpers Ferry       The Election of Abraham Lincoln     PART III   The Civil War, Emancipation, and Black Reconstruction: The Second American Revolution   11  Liberation: African Americans and the Civil War       Lincoln’s Aims       Black Men Volunteer and Are Rejected       Union Policies toward Confederate Slaves       The Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation       The Emancipation Proclamation       Black Men Fight for the Union       The Confederate Reaction to Black Soldiers       Black Men in the Union Navy      Liberators, Spies, and Guides       Violent Opposition to Black People       Refugees       Black People and the Confederacy     12  The Meaning of Freedom: The Promise of Reconstruction, 1865–1868       The End of Slavery       Land       The Freedmen’s Bureau       Southern Homestead Act       Sharecropping       The Black Church       Education       Violence       The Crusade for Political and Civil Rights       Presidential Reconstruction under Andrew Johnson       Black Codes       Black Conventions       The Radical Republicans       The Fourteenth Amendment       Radical Reconstruction       The Reaction of White Southerners     13  The Meaning of Freedom: The Failure of Reconstruction, 1868–1877     Constitutional Conventions       Elections       Black Political Leaders       The Issues       Economic Issues       Black Politicians: An Evaluation       Republican Factionalism       Opposition       The Fifteenth Amendment       The Enforcement Acts       The North Loses Interest       The Freedmen’s Bank       The Civil Rights Act of 1875       The End of Reconstruction