xxix

Preface

T

he Encyclopedia of African American History seeks

to introduce readers to the totality of the African

American experience, from beginnings in preco-

lonial Atlantic Africa through the dawn of the 21st century.

Framed by four interpretive, historical, and historiographic

essays, the entire project can be summed up as an introduc-

tion to a multitude of themes, across both space and time,

that allows readers to connect with the many continuities

and discontinuities, tensions and agreements, tragedies and

triumphs, and advances and nadirs punctuating African

American history. Th is particular goal is best captured in

the symbolism behind the visit by U.S. President Barack

Hussein Obama to Ghana’s Cape Coast Slave Castle in July

2009. Th at very moment, at which he passed through the
      so-called Door of No Return, represented an important
      point of historical convergence of themes and trends cours-
      ing through the African American experience over the
      past 500 years—from the commodifi cation of black bodies
      in coastal factories in 15th-century Atlantic Africa to the
      ultimate expression of black empowerment in the form of
      Obama’s historic election in 2008.
      Th e four 5,000-word section essays written by proj-
      ect editors and members of the editorial board represent
      fresh interpretive and historiographic segues to the the-
      matic and chronological areas that the editors determined
      were the major watersheds or pivotal moments and move-
      ments in African American history. Th ese themes include

(1) Atlantic African, American, and European Backgrounds

to Contact, Commerce, and Enslavement; (2) Culture,

Identity, and Community: From Slavery to the Present; (3)

Political Activity and Resistance to Oppression: From the

American Revolution to the Civil War; and (4) Political Ac-

tivity, Migration, and Urbanization: Reconstruction, Civil

Rights, and Modern African America.

Th ose contributing the more than 650 smaller essays,

ranging in length from 300 to 4,000 words, include archi-

vists, librarians, graduate students, and professional histo-

rians and other scholars. Each essay was closely vetted by

the editors and selected for inclusion based on a handful

of criteria. Above all else, the editors ensured that each

entry was clear, uncomplicated, and decisive; factual, de-

scriptive, and explanatory (while avoiding editorializing);

and written for intelligent and interested nonspecialists.

Given the principal audience for the Encyclopedia of Af-

rican American History—high school students and college

undergraduates—the editors solicited and selected jargon-

free essays, mostly devoid of specialized and technical

language, for inclusion. However, even graduate students

and advanced scholars in the fi elds of American History,

African American History, Ethnic Studies, and Black Stud-

ies will fi nd this encyclopedia a resource for accessible and

useful information. In addition, each entry includes a list

of “See also” references to other essays in the encyclopedia

that allows readers to easily connect together related topics