The Black New England Series is coming to the University of Massachusetts Press this fall, along with two new publications, Captain Paul Cuffe and The Precious Birthright. This interdisciplinary series seeks to publish original, groundbreaking research that critically examines the experiences of African-descended people in New England from the era of colonization to the present day. The series editors are particularly interested in work that centers on the Black experience in New England and that considers Black people to be key agents in the region’s history, economy, culture, politics, and society.
Zebulon Miletsky, author of Before Busing: A History of Boston’s Long Black Freedom Struggle, writes, “Bravo to the editors of this bold new, and very much needed, series. Because of the symbolism of New England to the development of America, a systematic investigation of the area’s Black history is something that many of us who are working in this field have long wanted to see come to fruition, and it fills an important gap in the scholarship.”
Authors Kabria Baumgartner, Kerri Greenidge, Jared Ross Hardesty, and Nicole Maskiell collaborate as series editors, seeking to work on the transnational experience of Black New England.
This fall, we’re releasing two titles to launch the series: Captain Paul Cuffe, Yeoman, a biography by Jeffrey A. Fortin, and The Precious Birthright by CJ Martin.
Paul Cuffe is best understood as a member of the Black Founding Fathers in the United States. Born in 1759 on Cuttyhunk Island in Massachusetts, Cuffe emerged from anonymity to become the most celebrated African American sea captain during the Age of Sail, transforming into a well-known abolitionist, veteran, community activist, and celebrity as he built a shipping empire. Cuffe and his Black crews shook the foundations of systemic racism by sailing into ports where slavery was legal. Fortin describes Cuffe’s experiences in vivid detail and places them within the broader history of the Early Republic, revealing the central role of African Americans in the founding of the United States.
Also releasing this fall in the series, The Precious Birthright explores a fight that was as important to the pioneers of interracial democracy as it was for the civil rights activists of the twentieth century, providing new insight into the larger story of Black freedom. In 1842, Black Rhode Islanders secured a stunning victory rarely seen in antebellum America: they won the right to vote. At the head of this movement was a cohort of prominent business and community members that formed an early example of a Black leadership class in the US. By focusing on Black leadership, Martin relates this history through the people who lived it, and by investigating their tactics, he deepens the story of how race played a crucial role in American citizenship.
