Table of Contents

Part I. 'Old' World Dimensions and the First Wave: 1. Antiquity; 2. Africans and the Bible; 3. Africans and the Islamic World; Part II. 'New' World Realities and Diaspora's Second Wave (to 1945): 4. Transatlantic moment and the dawn of modernity; 5. Enslavement; 6. Asserting the right to be; 7. Reconnecting; Part III. Empire's Dismantling and the Third Wave (since 1945): 8. Movement people; 9. Global Africa in the era of Mandela and Obama; Epilogue; Index.

Promotional Information

Captures the essential political, cultural, social, and economic developments that shaped the black experience.

About the Author

Michael A. Gomez is Silver Professor of History and Middle Eastern Studies and Islamic Studies at New York University, and Director of NYU's Center for the Study of Africa and the African Diaspora (CSAAD). He is also Series Editor of the Cambridge Studies on the African Diaspora. In addition to the first edition of Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora (Cambridge, 2004), he is the author of several books, including African Dominion: A New History of Empire in Early and Medieval West Africa (2018) and Black Crescent: African Muslims in the Americas (2005).

Reviews

'No other study seeks to identify and globally illuminate the African diaspora from antiquity to the present day. This second edition of Reversing Sail is a must-read for general undergraduate course development, but also important for a popular informative and cognitive understanding of Africa's role in world history.' Margaret Washington, Cornell University, New York

'This gem of a book conveys the uniqueness of the African diaspora among migrations of humankind. Gomez, the leading chronicler of the diaspora, elicits insight and inspiration in tracing the achievements of antiquity, the brave and effective responses to centuries of enslavement and empire, and the recent generations of creative genius in cultural leadership.' Patrick Manning, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of World History, Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh

'In Reversing Sail, Michael A. Gomez gives us the full sweep of the early African diaspora - not just the story of slavery, but the story of Africans with their lives, their languages, and their civilization as it encountered Europe. For those who were enslaved, the story goes beyond the bare-bones narrative of plantation and service to include the transformation of African culture by that of America, and the African part in the creation of the culture of the Americas.' John Thornton, Boston University

'Reversing Sail will endure as the most competent book to introduce generations of students to what we now characterize as the African diaspora, as well as yielding considerable knowledge on the Indian Ocean, the Black Atlantic, Atlantic History, and World History.' Toyin Falola, Frances and Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, University of Texas, Austin

'Reversing Sail succeeds beautifully in its goal of introducing readers to the challenges and rewards of studying the African diaspora and laying out categories for making sense of an enormously rich subject. In so doing, Gomez demonstrates the value of approaching the stories of the African diaspora with a 'diasporic lens.'' Harvey Hill, Anglican and Episcopal History Review