African Americans and the Classics: Antiquity, Abolition and Activism

by Margaret Malamud

Overview

A new wave of research in black classicism has emerged in the 21st century that explores the role played by the classics in the larger cultural traditions of black America, Africa and the Caribbean. Addressing a gap in this scholarship, Margaret Malamud investigates why and how advocates for abolition and black civil rights (both black and white) deployed their knowledge of classical literature and history in their struggle for black liberty and equality in the United States. African Americans boldly staked their own claims to the classical world: they deployed texts, ideas and images of ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt in order to establish their authority in debates about slavery, race, politics and education. A central argument of this book is that knowledge and deployment of Classics was a powerful weapon and tool for resistance-as improbable as that might seem now-when wielded by black and white activists committed to the abolition of slavery and the end of the social and economic oppression of free blacks. The book significantly expands our understanding of both black history and classical reception in the United States.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350107830
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	01/24/2019
Series:	Library of Classical Studies , #1
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.64(d)

About the Author

Margaret Malamud is Professor of Ancient History and Islamic Studies at New Mexico State University, where she is also the S.P. and Margaret Manasse Research Chair in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is author of the acclaimed book Ancient Rome and Modern America (2009) and her articles have appeared in the scholarly collections African Athena (2012) and Ancient Slavery and Abolition (2011).

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix

Acknowledgements xii

Introduction 1

1 Fighting for Classics 10

2 Figuring Classical Resistance 52

3 Ancient and Modern Slavery 105

4 Constructing History 147

Afterword 194

Notes 200

Bibliography 252

Index 277

Editorial Reviews

A fascinating read and will be of interest to anyone interested in classical studies, classical reception, African American history, and the history of race relations in the United States of America. The book is well written, and the research is solid.”

Bryn Mawr Classical Review

01/01/2017
Malamud (ancient history & Islamic studies, New Mexico State Univ.) examines how and why black Americans have used texts, images, and ideas from the classical world.

Library Journal