From the Publisher
The book's major scholarly contributions include a diaspora approach linking both sides of the Atlantic, an emphasis on the mental and human dimensions of slave workers, and evidence for multiple contributions of slave workers in making the American plantation."-CHOICE,
"This volume is a significant contribution to a number of different fields, and it is on the cutting edge of Atlantic history, exploring an almost seamless integration of African, African American, and indeed American life."-Simon P. Newman,American Historical Review
"Goes a long way toward giving enslaved African labor deserved recognition for having shaped the Atlantic world." -Journal of World History,
"Working the Diaspora is one of few books about American slavery to take Africa seriously...Knight deserves high praise for telling the story."-Walter Hawthorne,New West Indian Guide
“Historians of African Americans have known for a long time that they were brought to the Americas to labor, but until Frederick Knight’s comprehensive and fascinating account, that labor had never been fully examined. By looking at African labor and especially agricultural skills, Knight shows that a great deal of the work that African Americans did as slaves had its roots in African agricultural processes. Knight’s chapter on the production of indigo is particularly telling on this point, and shows that Africans’ skill was perhaps as important as their muscle in furthering the New World’s agricultural development. While others have explored elements of the role of Africans as skilled farmers before, Knight has brought all this and more together in a compelling and convincing re-evaluation of Africans and their descendants’ role in American life.”
-John K. Thornton,author of Africa and Africans in the Formation of the Atlantic World, 1400-1680
