Slavery, Propaganda, and the American Revolution

by Patricia Bradley

Overview

A rich and rewarding investigation of the role of the newspapers in defining race, color, and slavery at the birth of the American nation. Bradley’s analysis of slavery as metaphor in revolutionary-era journalism becomes a powerful explanation of how the patriot press found the language that disseminated ideas and attitudes on free African Americans and slaves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781578062119
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	05/01/1999
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Patricia Bradley is a professor of communications in the School of Communications at Temple University. She is the author of Mass Media and the Shaping of American Feminism, 1963-1975 (also published by University Press of Mississippi).

Editorial Reviews

Based on a thorough reading of 18th-century pamphlets and newspapers plus an impressive array of secondary works, this book offers an important new interpretation of American attitudes about slavery and blacks during the Revolutionary era. Bradley demonstrates that by the late 1760s Samuel Adams was the top agent directing the patriot press and that the press largely ignored the slavery issue. When black servants or slaves were mentioned at all, the patriot press usually portrayed them as deceitful, unreliable, or dangerous. There were many antislavery crusaders during the period, but their pamphlets and newspapers did not have the same circulation as the major patriot organs. Moreover, antislavery groups like the Quakers were suspected of being sympathetic to Britain, which weakened their influence on the broad American public. This original study is highly recommended for academic and large public libraries.--Thomas J. Schaeper, St. Bonaventure Univ., NY

Library Journal