But We Have No Country: The 1851 Christiana, Pennsylvania Resistance [Hardcover]

Ella Forbes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2010

"But We Have No Country" examines how William Parker and the Christiana Resisters tested the basic tenets of American democracy and law, especially the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law. In doing so, they exposed the contradiction between the theory of the American creed and the reality of the enslavement and oppression of black Americans. Ultimately the Christiana Resistance was a contest of wills between Parker and his self-defense organization, with natural law on their side, and Edward Grosuch and other white slave owners, armed, literally with civil law. Their struggle encapsulized the more immense battle of how to incorporate the institution of slavery in a so-called free society which was waging nationwide. It was a clash that Parker and the valiant Resisters won.

Editorial Reviews

Review

... among the top scholarship on African American resistance produced in the last two decades. Indeed ... a must read for all. -- Wilbert L Jenkins, Ph.D., Temple University, Pennsylvania

Forbes ... arrives at corrective to the traditional perspective that denies Africans agency in arguably the most important incidence of resistance before the Civil War. -- Leroy Hopkins, Ph.D., Millersville University, Pennsylvania

Through a ... careful re-examination of the contemporary and subsequent descriptions ... Forbes has offered a rich exploration of the Christiana incident. -- Emma Jones Lapsansky, Haverford College, Pennsylvania

About the Author

Ella Forbes is Associate Professor of African American Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she teaches courses in African American history, mass media and the black community, African American social and political thought, black women, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Her scholarly work focuses on resistance activities in the African American community and she is also the author of "African American Women During the Civil War" (Garland Publishing, 1998), and the co-author of "American Democracy in Africa in the Twenty-First Century?" (Africana Homestead Legacy Publishers, December 2000) and "The Color Line Revisited: Readings in African American History" (in press) and a contributor to several academic journals. She also serves as a consultant on African American history and educational projects. Dr. Forbes lives in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania where she is conducting research on her current project, the Goodman v. Lukens Steel Company discrimination suit.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Africana Homestead Legacy Pub; 1St Edition edition (September 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965330818
• ISBN-13: 978-0965330817
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,036,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars If I Knew Then, What I Know Now, March 21, 2000

By 

"siekhan" (Syracuse, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: But We Have No Country: The 1851 Christiana, Pennsylvania Resistance (Hardcover)

Purchasing this book made me face the risks associated with online book purchases. Forbes' subject of analysis seems to keep eluding her, and that pursuit comes across as the only continuing thread of the book. Early references to "the rhetoric of redemptive violence" quickly blurred into a discussion of "righteous violence," "natural right," Black "manliness" and agency. The point is not that these aren't worthy topics of discussion; to the contrary, they clearly have salience for Forbes. The problem is that Forbes spends so much time engaging in polemics that she fails to expose her analysis of these topics in a way that shows her readers what connections she'd like us to draw from them. And the continuing train of malapropisms and gavel-banging only served to distract this reader's attempt to forge the necessary connections. All to say, if I knew then (when I ordered the text) what I know now I would have used my library card instead of my credit card.