Atlantic Passages by Robert Murray

Atlantic Passages by Robert Murray

Established by the American Colonization Society in the early nineteenth century as a settlement for free people of color, the West African colony of Liberia is usually seen as an endpoint in the journeys of those who traveled there. In Atlantic Passages, Robert Murray reveals that many Liberian settlers did not remain in Africa but returned repeatedly to the United States, and he explores the ways this movement shaped the construction of race in the Atlantic world.

Tracing the transatlantic crossings of Americo-Liberians between 1820 and 1857, in addition to delving into their experiences on both sides of the ocean, Murray discusses how the African neighbors and inhabitants of Liberia recognized significant cultural differences in the newly arrived African Americans and racially categorized them as "whites." He examines the implications of being perceived as simultaneously white and black, arguing that these settlers acquired an exotic, foreign identity that escaped associations with primitivism and enabled them to claim previously inaccessible privileges and honors in America.

Highlighting examples of the ways in which blackness and whiteness have always been contested ideas, as well as how understandings of race can be shaped by geography and cartography, Murray offers many insights into what it meant to be black and white in the space between Africa and America.

Robert Murray is assistant professor of history and chair of the Humanities Department at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780813066752
ISBN 10	0813066751
Title	Atlantic Passages
Author	Robert Murray
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	University Press of Florida
Year published	2021-02-28
Number of pages	288
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.