UNH Speakers Bureau

Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail (Book Title)

 

Program Description:

W. Jeffrey Bolster, master mariner and historian, shatters the myth that black seafaring in the age of sail was limited to the Middle Passage. Rescuing African American seamen from obscurity, this stirring account reveals the critical role sailors played in helping forge new identities for black people in America. An epic tale of the rise and fall of black seafaring, Black Jacks is African Americans' freedom story presented from a fresh perspective.


Speaker:

Jeffrey Bolster

Jeff Bolster is an associate professor of history at the University of New Hampshire. His research interests include maritime history, African-American history, environmental history, and Atlantic history. He enjoys exploring historical problems regarding peoples’ interaction with the sea. As a social historian he is especially interested in the relationship of experience and meaning. As an environmental historian he is intrigued with anthropogenic changes to the sea and the ways those changes have influenced human society and culture. He has written on African American seamen in the age of sail; the social and environmental history of the Piscataqua estuary that separates Maine and New Hampshire; shipping in the making of America; and most recently, the marine environmental history of the northwest Atlantic.

Other topics offered by Jeffrey Bolster