This important book considers a number of different aspects of the slave trade: its social and economic basis; why many African leaders facilitated the slave trade; and how enslaved African Americans forged their own cultures and forever changed the Americas. The physical; social; and enduring emotional meaning of the Middle Passage is explored; as is the history and legacy of the abolitionist movement and the struggle for racial justice.
#1341446 in Books Texas AnM University Press 2007-10-04Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.42 x .87 x 6.46l; 1.09 #File Name: 1585445894208 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Well WrittenBy Gina JacksonThis was a very enlightening book. It is never easy to read of such times but everyone should aspire to educate themselves on topics that have touched so many lives.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy Dan R. BetoI found the book interesting.6 of 17 people found the following review helpful. Disappointed with Lynching to BelongBy Elizabeth SandersI finished reading Lynching to Belong and was terribly disappointed. The author was extremely sympathetic to the Blacks in Brazos County; but not so much to the early Sicilian settlers. She made the poor Sicilian woman responsible for the lynching of Jim Reddick.The section on the Italians concerned the rape of a Sicilian woman; Bonnie Palazzo. She felt that the rape may not have been what was claimed. She implied that the Sicilian victim was either:1). Lying to cover up an interracial affair with a Negro while her husband was in the insane asylum in Austin. From what I know about Sicilian culture at the time; this was highly unlikely.2). Bonnie Palazzo made up the whole story to make herself seem more "white". The story of rape was merely said to convince her "white" neighbors that she was indeed a poor; fragile white woman. The fact that her son; Charlie; witnessed the attack was of no importance. He was not a credible witness.After the Negro- Jim Reddick was found guilty; his attorneys appealed his case to Austin.The Texas Appeals Court demanded a new trial in Bryan. The Court felt that the victim and her son may have been lying. (The author did not bother to relate that Sicilian Americans were generaly not believed). She did not have any compassion toward Bonnie Palazzo.I can understand her sympathy to the Blacks of Brazos County. I; for one; feel their treatment was reprehensible. But; she did not bother to explain the racial bias that made life for the Sicilian immigrants almost intolerable. The fact that they succeeded in a culture that deemed them lower class makes their success all that more remarkable. I don't believe that the Sicilians and in particular; Bonnie Palazzo; were responsible for the lynching of Jim Reddick.I know that I cannot be totally rational in my assessment. I am a proud descendent of the early Sicilian immigrants to Brazos County. There are members of Bonnie Palazzo's descendents in my own family and they would be horrified at the author's assumptions concerning their ancestor.
