Black Jacks

http://www.unh.edu/history/index.cfm?id=B6CEA200-07EA-CEBE-4C9607680336C585

Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail by W. Jeffrey Bolster Harvard University Press, 1997

excerpt from book cover:  W. Jeffrey Bolster, master mariner and historian, shatters the myth that black seafaring in the age of sail was limited to the Middle Passage. Rescuing African American seamen from obscurity, this stirring account reveals the critical role sailors played in helping forge new identities for black people in America. An epic tale of the rise and fall of black seafaring, Black Jacks is African Americans’ freedom story presented from a fresh perspective.

New York Times Book Review notable book of the year, Co-winner of the Wesley-Logan Prize of the American Historical Association, Selected as the Association of American Publishers Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division Best Book in History