Free People of Color: Inside the African American Community

Noting that successive waves of scholarship have overemphasized both black divisiveness and black unity, Horton, co-author of Black Bostonians: Family Life and Community Struggle in an Antebellum City, makes a rather dry argument for a more nuanced view as he explores pre-Civil War black society in cities like Boston, Buffalo and Washington, D.C. As opposed to scholars who emphasize the differences between the lives of free blacks and slaves, Horton notes that the shared foundation of black life impelled free blacks to absorb and protect migrants and to work for abolition. Considering gender roles, Horton notes that as black men tried to assert their manhood, the conventions they adopted often marginalized women, and that variations in skin color led to stratification that persists today. The use of the term ``African'' in organizational names while individuals took European names was a hint of ``double consciousness,'' the author states. In a final section, he shows how black relations with German immigrants were more peaceful than their better-known bitter relations with Irish immigrants. Illustrations not seen by PW. (May)