Description: "In 1842, Black Rhode Islanders secured a stunning victory rarely seen in antebellum America: they won the right to vote. Amid heightened public discourse around shifting ideas of race, citizenship, and political rights, they methodically deconstructed the arguments against their enfranchisement and chose the perfect moments in which to act forcefully. At the head of this movement was a cohort of prominent business and community members that formed an early example of a Black leadership class in the US. CJ Martin argues that Black leaders employed a unique combination of agitation and accommodation to ensure the success of this movement. By focusing on Black leadership, Martin relates this history through the people who lived it, and by investigating their tactics, he deepens the story of how race played a crucial role in American citizenship. Exploring a fight that was as important to the pioneers of interracial democracy as it was for the civil rights activists of the twentieth century, The Precious Birthright provides new insight into the larger story of Black freedom"--
Review Quotes:
"Martin seamlessly weaves fact and analysis, narrative and exposition to create something that can be read by anyone regardless of their background. . . . A must-read."--Courtney Garrity, New England Journal of History
"CJ Martin has written an important book deserving of a wide readership. The Precious Birthright belongs on the shelves of all students of the state's history."--Erik J. Chaput and Russell J. DeSimone, The Online Review of Rhode Island History
"What immediately jumps out from The Precious Birthright is its wealth of new evidence documenting the agency of hitherto obscure leadership groups among Black men and women in Providence from the 1780s on, including their social position and relationships with each other, and their alliances with a sector of the city's white elites. This constitutes a significant deepening in the narrative of this state's free people of color."--Van Gosse, author of The First Reconstruction: Black Politics in America, From the Revolution to the Civil War "With convincing arguments and grounded in original research, The Precious Birthright is enlivened with portraits of remarkable Black political activists, writers, and organizers--and a series of tumultuous events, including remarkable examples of institution-building, violent attacks, and heartbreaking setbacks."--John Wood Sweet, author of Bodies Politic: Negotiating Race in the American North, 1730-1830 and The Sewing Girl's Tale: A Story of Crime and Consequences in Revolutionary America.