Flight to Freedom: African Runaways And Maroons in the Americas

by Alvin O. Thompson

African slavery in the Americas has left indelible marks on the geographical, political, economic, social and cultural landscapes of the Americas. An important part of that indelibility is marronage that involved both flight from slavery and the establishment of free communities. This book is about the struggles of enslaved Africans in the Americas who achieved freedom through flight and the establishment of Maroon communities in the face of overwhelming military odds on the part of the slaveholders. Incontestably, Maroon communities constituted the first independent polities from European colonial rule in the hemisphere, even if the colonial states did not accord them legal recognition.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American

396 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2006

Reviews

[Carlos]

Thompson writes a history of those African slaves that preferred to run into the unknown wilds of the American continent than to remain in bondage. These self-freed slaves sought not only their own freedom but oftentimes set up competing polities that defied and frightened the authoritarian state of the burgeoning plantocracy. Thompson focuses not only on the means that these men and women used to gain and defend their personal freedom but also on the organization of their communities, their economy, defense and the accommodations they were prepared to make with the authoritarian state. Covering the whole of the Americas between the 16th and 19th century, Thompson focuses on the common threads in the formation of all of these communities rather than chronicle any one in particular detail. This was an important, if at times dense, book that sought to give due recognition to these courageous men and women who fought against terrible odds for their freedom.

[sommer🍉]

read this for a research paper i did and it has taught me so much about maroons in such a well structured and humanizing way. i highly recommend.

[Kribsoo]

This book is dynamic and I highly recomend reading it It is wonderfully written with extaordinary prose The author does a superb job of bringing the readers into the time period and a wonderful