The waterman's song : slavery and freedom in maritime North Carolina / David S. Cecelski.
The first major study of slavery in the maritime South, The Waterman's Song chronicles the world of slave and free black fishermen, pilots, rivermen, sailors, ferrymen, and other laborers who, from the colonial era through Reconstruction, plied the vast inland waters of North Carolina from the Outer Banks to the upper reaches of tidewater rivers. Demonstrating the vitality and significance of this local African American maritime culture, David Cecelski also reveals its connections to the Afro-Caribbean, the relatively egalitarian work culture of seafaring men who visited nearby ports, and the revolutionary political tides that coursed throughout the black Atlantic. Black maritime laborers played an essential role in local abolitionist activity, slave insurrections, and other antislavery activism. They also boatlifted thousands of slaves to freedom during the Civil War. But most important, Cecelski says, they carried an insurgent, democratic vision born in the maritime districts of the slave South into the political maelstrom of the Civil War and Reconstruction.-- Provoded by publisher.
Record details
- ISBN: 080782643X
- ISBN: 0807849723
- ISBN: 9780807849729
- Physical Description: xx, 304 pages : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 23 cm
- Publisher: Chapel Hill, NC : The University of North Carolina Press, [2001]
- Copyright: ©2001
Content descriptions
- Bibliography, etc. Note:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Formatted Contents Note:
- Part 1. Working on the Water -- 1 As Far as a Colored Man Can There Be Free: A Slave Waterman's Life 25 -- 2 Common as Gar Broth: Slave Fishermen from Tidewater Plantations to the Outer Banks 57 -- 3 Like Sailors at Sea: Slaves and Free Blacks in the Shad, Rockfish, and Herring Fishery 83 -- 4 A March Down into the Water: Canal Building and Maritime Slave Labor 103 -- Part 2. Straggle for Freedom -- 5 All of Them Abolitionists: Black Watermen and the Maritime Passage to Freedom 121 -- 6 Best and Most Trustworthy Pilots: Slave Watermen in Civil War Beaufort 153 -- 7 A Radical and Jacobinical Spirit: Abraham Galloway and the Struggle for Freedom in the Maritime South 179 -- Afterword: The Last Daughter of Davis Ridge 203.
Search for related items by subject
- Subject:
- African American fishers > North Carolina > History > 19th century.
African American ship pilots > North Carolina > History > 19th century.
Enslaved persons > North Carolina.
Inland water transportation > North Carolina > History > 19th century.
Slavery > North Carolina > History.
North Carolina > History > 1775-1865.
Available copies
- 66 of 69 copies available at NC Cardinal. (Show)
- 2 of 2 copies available at Onslow County Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 69 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Show All Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville Main Library | NC 975.6 C C-90 (Text) | 36015000661286 | Adult Nonfiction | Available | - |
| Jacksonville Main Library | Ref NC OCR 975.6 C C-90 (Text) | 36015000011334 | Genealogy | Available | - |
