A Tribute for the Negro

The purport of the present volume, in contradistinction to the idea of the Negro being designed only for a servile condition, is to demonstrate that the Sable inhabitants of Africa are capable of occupying a position in society very superior to that which has been generally assigned to them.
-from the Preface

This extraordinary book, first published in 1848, serves as both an angry denunciation of the "terrible institution" of slavery in the United States and a celebration of the survival and achievements of Africans in America in the pre-Civil War era. A Tribute for the Negro:

. explains the "sin of slavery"
. refutes notions of the correlation of intellectual ability to skin color
. explores the history of slavery across the globe
. discusses the "pernicious influence of slavery"
. mounts an impassioned defense of African culture
. offers numerous biographical accounts of slave life in America.

An important document of the North American slave experience-and of the abolitionist movement it inspired both in the States and abroad-this is must reading for anyone interested in this most shameful aspect of American history.

British writer WILSON ARMISTEAD (1819¬-1868) was a correspondent of Charles Darwin. He also wrote Anthony Benezet (1859).