Abolitionists Abroad: American Blacks and the Making of Modern West Africa

From Publishers Weekly
In this absorbing study, Sanneh, a historian and professor of world Christianity at Yale University, argues for the historical significance of the settlement in Freetown, West Africa, established by nearly 1,200 freed slaves in 1792 as the foundation for a powerful antislavery movement that influenced social policy in both America and Europe. Using journals, letters and other evidence gleaned from public records, he shows that freed slaves and former captives such as Olaudah Equiano, David George, Paul Cuffee and others believed that abolitionist sentiment, together with Christianity, with its theme of God-given humanity, could become an effective liberating force. While the settlements of freed slaves in Sierra Leone and, later, Liberia were often plagued with controversy, political infighting and epidemics, Samuel Ajayi Crowder, an ex-slave from Nigeria, used the models of earlier antislavery communities to build new ones in Nigeria. Sanneh suggests the zeal of the repatriated ex-slaves and their evangelical Christianity not only threatened the old traditional African tribal chieftain hierarchy, but challenged Christian practices in Europe and the New World. His comments on the reaction of leading black intellectuals of the day to the complex social questions posed by the Liberian settlement are sketchy. Yet overall, this well-documented book offers sharp historical insights on an important but often neglected chapter in the history of American slavery. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Sanneh (history and world Christianity, Yale Univ.) argues that modern antislavery in Europe and America emerged from an evangelical Christianity centered on personal salvation that empowered a bottom-up social movement of ex-slaves, ex-captives, and their allies (Olaudah Equiano, David George, Paul Cuffee, and Samuel Ajayi Crowther, for example). These downtrodden outcasts created an "antistructure" in the form of an alternative community that broke old structural traditions as best illustrated by the Sierra Leone colony created by blacks displaced during the American Revolution. There, Sanneh argues, a new society based on freedom and human dignity formed a foundation for modern West Africa. Sanneh's complex argument demands close reading and promises to compel scholarly attention as it shifts the focus of antislavery to an Africa-based movement. For collections on anti-slavery movements, the Atlantic world, African American and African history, and the history of social activism in religion in general and Christianity in particular.-Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Sanneh, a history professor, focuses on the colonization or "back to Africa movement" as an outgrowth of the abolitionist-antislavery movement. The colonization efforts were centered in an evangelical social activism that conflicted with established social structures. The movement, both in Britain and the U.S., sought African support and appealed to former and potential slaves to support the cause. Sanneh recounts the experiences of the black abolitionists to illustrate the conflicts and cross currents in the slave trade debate that are not generally discussed. For example, Thomas Jefferson supported emigration in theory because the prospect of emancipated slaves would threaten the tranquility of white America. Although the antislavery movement spurred support for colonization, support for the latter did not always necessitate support for the former, a factor that distinguished the failures of the private-sector-supported American-Liberian venture from the British government^-supported Sierra Leone. Sanneh's work reflects the conflict of Christian values with domestic politics, which provided the opportunity for black Americans to influence the development of modern West Africa. Vernon Ford


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Sanneh (history and world Christianity, Yale Univ.) argues that modern antislavery in Europe and America emerged from an evangelical Christianity centered on personal salvation that empowered a bottom-up social movement of ex-slaves, ex-captives, and their allies (Olaudah Equiano, David George, Paul Cuffee, and Samuel Ajayi Crowther, for example). These downtrodden outcasts created an "antistructure" in the form of an alternative community that broke old structural traditions as best illustrated by the Sierra Leone colony created by blacks displaced during the American Revolution. There, Sanneh argues, a new society based on freedom and human dignity formed a foundation for modern West Africa. Sanneh's complex argument demands close reading and promises to compel scholarly attention as it shifts the focus of antislavery to an Africa-based movement. For collections on anti-slavery movements, the Atlantic world, African American and African history, and the history of social activism in religion in general and Christianity in particular.--Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.


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