Winner of the Southern Anthropological Society's prestigious James Mooney Award; Uncommon Ground takes a unique archaeological approach to examining early African American life. Ferguson shows how black pioneers worked within the bars of bondage to shape their distinct identity and lay a rich foundation for the multicultural adjustments that became colonial America.Through pre-Revolutionary period artifacts gathered from plantations and urban slave communities; Ferguson integrates folklore; history; and research to reveal how these enslaved people actually lived. Impeccably researched and beautifully written.
#1492947 in Books Markus Wiener Pub 2009-06-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.02 x .64 x 5.98l; .93 #File Name: 1558762752286 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Paul B.Good book;...just what I was looking for.11 of 16 people found the following review helpful. A first rate workBy Seth J. FrantzmanThe frequently over looked subject of Islamic slavery is fianlly brought to light in this important new work on the subject. The focus here is on the Africans sent to North Africa via the slave routes stretching acorss the Sahara and those beggining in Zanzibar. Between the 7th century and the present it is estimated that 11 million Africans were taken as Slaves to the muslim world. This book explains how they were captured; transported and most important their new lives in the Muslim world. Usual accounts paint a picture of a paradise where a slave lived as an equal and assimilated into the Muslim soceity. The reality was quite different then the western myth. This book tells of African women chosen only for their sexual attributes then used as sex slaves; any resulting children would be sold or 'pimped' off by the owner rather then living freely as Qu'ranic law sopposedly guaranteed. Here we have a wonderful new account of the Africans deported to North Africa; a story frequently overlooked in western history; which is all to often caught up in self flagulation of describing the Atlantic slave trade.Seth J. Frantzman
