In Hope of Liberty

Covering the colonial period to the Civil War, spanning all of the northern United States, In Hope of Liberty documents the antebellum northern black experience. In examining churches, schools, music, living arrangements, occupations, even the underground railroad, the Hortons point out the central role of the black community in successfully managing the tensions born of assimilation and cultural difference. In the process, they detail the extensive national contributions of northern blacks.

James Oliver Horton is the Benjamin Banneker Professor of American Studies and History at the George Washington University, directs the African-American Communities Project at the Smithsonian Institution, and is the author of Free People of Color: Inside the African American Community.

Lois E. Horton is Professor of Sociology and American Studies at George Mason University and the co-author of Black Bostonians: Family Life and Community Struggles in the Antebellum North.