{"product_id":"9780190289164","title":"Strange New Land: Africans in Colonial America","description":"Engaging and accessibly written, \u003cem\u003eStrange New Land\u003c\/em\u003e explores the history of slavery and the struggle for freedom before the United States became a nation. Beginning with the colonization of North America, Peter Wood documents the transformation of slavery from a brutal form of indentured servitude to a full-blown system of racial domination. \u003cem\u003eStrange New Land\u003c\/em\u003e focuses on how Africans survived this brutal process--and ultimately shaped the contours of American racial slavery through numerous means, including: - Mastering English and making it their own - Converting to Christianity and transforming the religion - Holding fast to Islam or combining their spiritual beliefs with the faith of their masters - Recalling skills and beliefs, dances and stories from the Old World, which provided a key element in their triumphant story of survival - Listening to talk of liberty and freedom, of the rights of man and embracing it as a fundamental right--even petitioning colonial administrators and insisting on that right.  Against the troubling backdrop of American slavery, \u003cem\u003eStrange New Land \u003c\/em\u003esurveys black social and cultural life, superbly illustrating how such a diverse group of people from the shores of West and Central Africa became a community in North America.","brand":"Oxford University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47124293681392,"sku":"9780190289164","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780190289164_p0.jpg?v=1763658802","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780190289164","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}