Customer Reviews

Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail

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This is a very important book and should launch more studies of this very important subject. This book contains much to recommend it; it is very informative and is very well written as well. The only complaint I have is that it falls prey to the (pervasive) Eurocentrism that pervades the disciplines of Maritime History and Archaeology (although the book does not contain any archaeology). The weakest chapter in the book is the chapter on the "African Roots of Black Seafaring" in which the author writes on page 47: "Africans' maritime technology unquestionably was less sophisticated than that of the Europeans."

This unabashed Eurocentrism is unfortunate. The obvious question raised is this: By which standard is technology judged? Bolster might wish to consult some of the "postcolonial" literaure such as James Blaut's "The Colonizer's Model of the World" which thoroughly debunks the notion (much repeated and unquestioningly accepted) of European seafaring superiority. Jim Loewen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me" also debunks this thinking.

The reasons behind Europe's "conquest" of the world are multifaceted. "Technological superiority" was only a small (and in my opinion not even the most important) component.

Still, "Black Jacks" is very good and a hearty fireside read.

Anyone interested in the history of sailing, prisons, religious mysticism, African-Americans, the early United States, and occupational hazards would be well-advised to read this clear, concise, absorbing book. Bolster obviously did his research, and his narrative pulls the reader into the story of the under-studied community of black sailors "in the age of sail". Highly recommend for scholarly or other mind-broadening pursuits.

The is an excellent well-written book about the role African Americans sailors played in our country's history. My major criticism, however, is that the author included only 6 pages on pirates. More should have been written, because few people are aware that many fugitive slaves joined pirate ships. And before our country gained their independence pirate ships were democratic. Pirates elected their captains and voted on what ship they would take and where they would sail. And most pirate ships treated their fugitive slave hands as equals. In other words they ate the same food, performed the same tasks, and received the same amount of plunder as the white hands. Blackbeard had several fugitive slaves sailing on his ships. Read about one fugitive slave joining Blackbeard's crew in The Diary of a Slave Girl, Ruby Jo. Other than not giving more information about BLACK PIRATES, I think this book is very informative and should be on every library shelf. I plan to reread it!

Black Jacks is a fascinating read about a little-known aspect of American history. To his credit -- and to the reader's benefit -- Bolster has written about history in a way that makes it not only accessible, but also allows the information about our past as a nation to resonate and inform our present.

W. Jeffrey Bolster's Black Jacks: African American Seaman in the Age of Sail, is a fascinating history skillfully told. I did not know that, in the early nineteenth century, black men comprised up to twenty percent of crew of the merchant marine sailing from some northern ports. I likewise did not know that the pre-civil war laws of South Carolina and other southern states, requiring free black sailors to be imprisoned at their own expenses while in southern ports, which led to the decimation of the black merchant marine. Bolster handles both the larger historical questions and the individual sailors' stories with great skill. He has compiled many original sources, including diaries of the sailors, to flesh out the lives of individual black men earning a living and mastering a trade. He also tells how the individuals, and often their officers (almost exclusively, although not entirely, white) dealt with the prejudice of the time, particularly the rising paranoia in the south.

Bolster, a mariner and historian, provides a coverage of the history of black seafaring in the age of sail and reveals the role black sailors played in America. Chapters hold many nearly-forgotten facts gleaned from source materials, providing important keys to understanding Afro-American contributions to exploration.

I am happy with this purchase. The front cover was creased and some pages were dog-eared but it was in fine, readable condition overall.