North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790-1860 [Paperback]

Leon F. Litwack (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1965 | ISBN-10: 0226485862 | ISBN-13: 978-0226485867 | Edition: 1

". . . no American can be pleased with the treatment of Negro Americans, North and South, in the years before the Civil War. In his clear, lucid account of the Northern phase of the story Professor Litwack has performed a notable service."—John Hope Franklin, Journal of Negro Education

"For a searching examination of the North Star Legend we are indebted to Leon F. Litwack. . . ."—C. Vann Woodward, The American Scholar

Product Details

• Paperback: 325 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (April 15, 1965)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226485862
• ISBN-13: 978-0226485867
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #818,897 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A seminal, path-breaking book, April 17, 1999

By 

Patrick Rael - See all my reviews

This review is from: North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790-1860 (Paperback)

North of Slavery marked the first comprehensive scholarly effort to explore the meaning of race in the northern states before the Civil War. It many ways, it remains -- almost forty years after its publication -- the single best starting point for examining the lives of Northern free blacks. It focuses on a region traditionally neglected by other studies of race relations, a problem being rectified in the scholarship only now. Challenging the myth of the North as a bastion of racial liberalism, Litwack portrays a North beset by segregation, racial pogrom, legal stricture, and -- above all -- a system of informal proscription which rendered black people there anything but "free." Written during the early stages of the Civil Rights Movement, the book had a chilling and prophetic understanding of the struggles which would confront the CRM as it moved out of the South and into the nation. North of Slavery was, and still is, a stunning antidote to the attitudes of those who tell themselves "it doesn't happen here." As is his style, Litwack peppers his history liberally with compelling first-hand accounts; the writing is exceptional: clean, hard-hitting, dark, compelling, and courageous.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dated but still relevant and a good read, February 19, 2007

By 

Dennis Brandt (Red Lion, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790-1860 (Paperback)

Published in 1961, time and events have aged Litwak's rhetoric somewhat, but his approach to antebellum racial matters is still historically valid and highly readable. It is a must for Civil War students, although you should balance it with other views. (P. J. Staudenraus's The African Colonization Movement puts a slightly different hue to that 19th century movement, inane though such thinking seems today.) I am bothered, however, by Litwak's approach because I am always bothered by activists who allow their personal views to creep into their work. (I also know how tough it can be to prevent it from happening.) UC Berkley trained and still teaching there today, Litwak could hardly epitomize even a moderate approach, much less conservatism. Interviews and stories about him show that even today his classes retain a '60s radical flavor (although this book predates all that.) Nonetheless, he is a good historian who has his facts straight if not always balanced. He does attempt on occasion to be fair and balanced, as when he points out that Frederick Douglass was as prejudiced toward Irish and Catholics (the former inevitably implying the latter) as whites were to him. A book of this nature tends to ring a negative tone by its nature. It always risks unfairly criticizing white men for holding attitudes of a bygone era. His book-closing, one-sided critique of Abraham Lincoln, while not offering one untrue statement, can be and often has been debated. Whatever you may think, read this book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must - Read History of America, January 6, 2009

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international (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free States, 1790-1860 (Paperback)

This book is a remarkably readable and documented narrative on slavery in the North. As one learns US history in school as a child, one is led to believe in the evil of the south and the abolitionist good of the north. This book will shed much needed light on the role that slavery played in the north. It will demystify preconceived ideas of the past, and provide valuable insight on the enduring character of the northern states in the present.

We had borrowed and read this book before, and it was so good we had to get it again.