Listen free for 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo + applicable taxes after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Becoming Free, Becoming Black cover art

Becoming Free, Becoming Black

Written by: Alejandro de la Fuente, Ariela J. Gross
Narrated by: Gary Tiedemann
Try for $0.00

$14.95 per month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $22.26

Buy Now for $22.26

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Tax where applicable.

Publisher's Summary

How did Africans become "Blacks" in the Americas?

Becoming Free, Becoming Black tells the story of enslaved and free people of color who used the law to claim freedom and citizenship for themselves and their loved ones. Their communities challenged slaveholders' efforts to make Blackness synonymous with slavery. Looking closely at three slave societies - Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana - Alejandro de la Fuente and Ariela J. Gross demonstrate that the law of freedom - not slavery - established the meaning of Blackness in law.

Contests over freedom determined whether and how it was possible to move from slave to free status, and whether claims to citizenship would be tied to racial identity. Laws regulating the lives and institutions of free people of color created the boundaries between Black and White, the rights reserved to White people, and the degradations imposed only on Black people.

©2020 Alejandro de la Fuente and Ariela J. Gross (P)2021 Tantor

What listeners say about Becoming Free, Becoming Black

Average Customer Ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.