Days of Sorrow, Years of Glory 1831-1850: From Nat Turner Revolt to the Fugitive Slave Law (Milestones in Black American History)

Rating:
Summary: Black American History: Nat Turner to the Compromise of 1850
Review: "Milestones in Black American History" is a 16-volume exploration of the black experience from ancient Egypt to the present day, with each volume focusing on a specific period of African-American history. "Days of Sorrow, Years of Glory," focuses on the pivotal period between the slave revolt led by Nat Turner in southeastern Virginia in 1813 and the passage of the controversial Fugitive Slave Act by the U.S. Congress as part of the Great Compromise of 1850. Timothy J. Paulson contrasts the story of bondage in slavery for millions of African-Americans with the efforts of free blacks who produced an impressive array of industrial inventions, novels, music, sermons, newspapers, and political oratory. Paulson covers racist violence in the North, the foundation of the American Anti-Slavery Society, the murder of Elijah P. Lovejoy, the black bandmaster Frank Johnson, the Battle of Lockahatchee between the U.S. Army and a black-Seminole army, David Ruggles's first black magazine, the "Amistad" and "Creole" slave ship revolts, and more.

"Days of Sorrow, Years of Glory" goes beyond the most famous names in the struggle of black Americans for liberty (Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass) to tell about Norbert Rillieux, William Henry Lane, and Joseph Cinque. I was pretty well versed in the political side of the story in terms of how the nation got from the Missouri Compromise to the Great Compromise of 1850, but Paulson is focusing more on the social side of the struggle. As a result, it is rather surprising to see how much was happening in Black American History in the years before the decade leading up to the Civil War. This book is illustrated with contemporary etchings, drawings, cartoons, and photographs from the period, including a photograph of the Hanging Tree where Nat Turner was executed, the title page of a book written by Frederick Douglass, and a much-reprinted lithograph entitled "The Old Plantation" showing the South's idealized view of slavery. For classes, students and teachers who want more information about American History from the African-American perspective than they will find in their textbooks, this is an excellent series.