I think of New York City as being a big bite. I fear it is too much to get the lips around -- when I'm thinking of wolfing down some chronological history. It is unwieldy because of its density. So the histories of New York that I generally go for are ones that slice off a bit and serve it up. I have been thrilled in reading BLACK GOTHAM by Carla L. Peterson to discover a good-sized, palatable chunk of history about Blacks/African Americans in nineteenth century New York. Enough about food -- consuming. This book is smooth reading. Peterson leads us through the lives of her ancestors/forebears with grace -- looking at them with respect, candor and scholarship. There are familiar names: Henry Highland Garnet, James McCune Smith, Alexander Crummell and Thomas Downing - woven in with Peterson's lesser known relations. I'm a scholar of African American history in the mid-atlantic so I've come to these names before. Peterson brings them together in historical chronology and in an interesting New York City social landscape. And yes, that's the part I like. These people needed to be put back into the landscape. Their churches, their houses, their schools, their businesses needed to be considered again. Okay, so I'm keen to imagine the lives of nineteenth century African peoples in the mid-atlantic -- the Atlantic Creole Nation. I think BLACK GOTHAM has wide appeal. New York City civic life was not and has never ever been unaffected by the lives and contributions of African and Atlantic Creole people. If you're going to know the history of New York, New Jersey, Brooklyn, Long Island, Connecticut, etc. you have to take account of these lives, as well as, those more closely identified with Europe. Carla Peterson leads us through her own genealogical research skillfully. Her hand is light and deft here so as not to bog down. Peterson has shown useful restraint in descriptions and depictions of skin color and hair conformation. Drawings, photographs and biographical information suggest plenty, but textual characterizations are fewer. More concentration is placed on economics, jobs, professions, educational opportunity and achievement. I liked this. By the time I reached the conclusions of the text I realized how much had been revealed without spotlighting racial appearance. Not ignoring -- not accounting -- not belaboring. Care was also taken in description of the events of the 1863 New York City Draft Riots. These rows have, of course, been plowed before. Peterson gives us a harrowing though succinct account of the events and their effect on the people whose lives the book follows. The book's attention does not stray from the Black elites so that we understand little of what happens to those who have less property to lose and more vulnerability. The point is made, however, that the racial violence of the Draft Riot, created chaos for Blacks of all social strata and economic circumstance. It's disappointing, but not surprising that less is known about the women of the periods covered. However, the author relies on Maritcha Lyons' MEMORIES OF YESTERDAY to add to depictions of individuals and institutions.
Also noteworthy and delightful is the detail of information about the nineteenth pharmacy profession and the career of pharmacist, Phillip A. White. Particularly painful are the struggles of Peter Williams Ray and John DeGrasse to be educated and recognized in the medical profession.
All too often the people who get most literary attention are the individuals of outstanding achievement or the colorful rogues and miscreants of history. As BLACK GOTHAM aptly proves ordinary people, emboldened by their personal triumph over adversity, are very interesting.
As a novelist with a keen interest in the biographies of African American identified people who gets nourishment from reading -- I give BLACK GOTHAM by Carla L. Peterson five biscuits and a few pats of butter for a book well done! Strawberry jam? Honey? You choose. EAT THIS BOOK!
