Includes bibliographical references (p. 339-362) and index.

List of illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- ch. 1. Slavery in colonial New York -- ch. 2. The struggle against slavery in Revolutionary and early national New York -- 3. Creating a free Black community in New York during the era of emancipation -- ch. 4. Free but unequal : the limits of emancipation -- ch. 5. Keeping body and soul together : charity workers and Black activism in post-emancipation New York City -- 6. The long shadow of Southern slavery : radical abolitionists and Black political activism against slavery and racism -- ch. 7. "Pressing forward to greater perfection" : radical abolitionists, Black labor, and Black working-class activism after 1840 -- ch. 8. "Rulers of the Five Points" : Blacks, Irish immigrants, and amalgamation -- ch. 9. The failures of the city -- Postscript -- Notes -- Works consulted -- Index.

& Quot;The black experience in the antebellum South has been thoroughly documented. But histories set in the North are few. In the Shadow of Slavery, then, is a big and ambitious book, one in which insights about race and class in New York City abound. Leslie Harris has masterfully brought more than two centuries of African American history back to life in this illuminating new work."--David Roediger, author of The Wages of WhitenessIn 1991 in lower Manhattan, a team of construction workers made an astonishing discovery. Just two blocks from City Hall, under twenty feet of asphalt, concrete.

Description based on print version record.