North Star Country: Upstate New York and the Crusade for African American Freedom

Sernett (African American studies, history and religion, Syracuse U.) tells how blacks and whites living in the central and western parts of New York State (North Star Country) participated in the movement for black freedom during a period of roughly 50 years, from the 1820s to the late 1860s. Coverage includes the history of slavery in upstate New York, rifts caused when ecclesiastical abolitionists took the fight into American churches, John Brown's relationship with North Star Country, and the transformation of the battle between the white South and white North into a "freedom war" through the participation of African Americans and their allies on and off the battlefield. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)