{"product_id":"a-moment-in-the-sun-black-manhattan-before-the-civil-war","title":"A Moment in the Sun: Black Manhattan Before the Civil War","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHere is a masterpiece of the historical imagination that only Shane White could have written. From a lifetime of research, White knows every inch of a long-ago Black Manhattan, no scene of squalid misery but of enterprise, endurance, and revelry, with its high steppers, con men, investors, fiddlers, fortune tellers, preachers, and many more--a city within a city, making the most of newly found, hard-won freedom. \n\u003cem\u003eA Moment in the Sun\u003c\/em\u003e renders it all beautifully.--Sean Wilentz, author of Pulitzer Prize finalist The Rise of American Democracy\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tShane White has devoted more than half of his life studying this great city, and the result has been truly great history. \n\u003cem\u003eA Moment in the Sun\u003c\/em\u003e is a landmark contribution, the product of a rare historian attentive to the texture of everyday life, the adventures of everyday people, and the mingling of cultures that made Manhattan the greatest urban island in the world. This is one of those books that should never go out of print.--Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tShane White's \n\u003cem\u003eA Moment in the Sun: Black Manhattan Before the Civil War\u003c\/em\u003e provides a wonderful new perspective on nineteenth-century New York, a book that bustles with a fascinating cast of characters who made the city come alive with art, commerce, music, and literature.--Greg Grandin, author of Pulitzer Prize-winning The End of the Myth\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tReaders are always in safe hands with Shane White. \n\u003cem\u003eA Moment in the Sun\u003c\/em\u003e displays the combination of archival range and narrative skill that have long distinguished his work. With such empathetic attention to the details of the lives lived, he rebuilds the vibrant world of Black Manhattan before the Civil War.--Caleb Gayle, author of Black Moses\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDispelling the persistent narrative that abject poverty followed the end of slavery in New York City, acclaimed historian Shane White finally sets the historical record straight. \u003cem\u003eA Moment in the Sun\u003c\/em\u003e, a revisionist and immersive retelling of antebellum Manhattan, depicts a long-forgotten, nineteenth-century era when ordinary Black men and women, now free, \"stood a brief moment in the sun\" (W. E. B. Du Bois), ushering in a roughly half-century period when New York City bulged and thrummed with Black creativity and achievement nearly a hundred years before the storied Harlem Renaissance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Culling a narrative from thousands of fragmentary sources gathered over three decades of research, White conjures the distant world of these Black New Yorkers, from the streets where dandies flaunted their signature style to a rollicking dance cellar on a Friday night in the Five Points neighborhood. \"In a city still rife with racism and violence,\" White writes, \"ordinary African New Yorkers--among them oystermen, petty entrepreneurs, fortune-tellers, and 'confidence men'--brought into being a free urban Black culture.\" Along the way, White introduces us to a notable parade of characters who helped transform Gotham into a booming urban metropolis, among them Thomas Downing, the \"Oyster King of New York\"; Mary Thompson, who ran a cookshop out of her cellar; and Cato Alexander, whose tavern provided cocktails and carriage races to a diverse clientele.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e As these people, languages, and cultures mixed in the so-called amalgamated city, racial tensions heightened and often exploded, but this friction helped facilitate a cultural melding that was extensive. To a startling degree, White reveals the myriad ways this first attempt at integration in New York City actually \u003cem\u003eworked\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e A triumph of historical reclamation, \u003cem\u003eA Moment in the Sun\u003c\/em\u003e paints a pointillist portrait of this time in New York history, one that presents an entirely different story that was waiting to emerge from the archive. And in bringing to vivid life these Black New Yorkers and their eponymous moment in the sun, this shimmering history preserves their memory and, in the words of Caleb Gayle, \"takes us into the experiment in freedom whose possibilities could have and should have lasted generations.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 06\/01\/2026 pg. 98 (EAN 9781324095088, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003eWhite, Shane\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eShane White\u003c\/strong\u003e is the Emeritus Challis Professor of History at the University of Sydney, specializing in African American history. White has authored or coauthored six books, including \n\u003cem\u003ePrince of Darkness: The Untold Story of Jeremiah Hamilton, Wall Street's First Black Millionaire\u003c\/em\u003e. He lives in Sydney and Brunswick Heads, Australia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Liveright Publishing Corporation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496190181654,"sku":"9781324095088","price":42.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9781324095088.jpg?v=1783057139","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/a-moment-in-the-sun-black-manhattan-before-the-civil-war","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}