The colonization of freed African Americans in Suriname : archival sources relating to the U.S.-Dutch negotiations, 1860-1866 / edited, translated, and introduced by Michael J. Douma
Published
Leiden [Netherlands] : Leiden University Press, [2019]
[Chicago, Illinois] : Distributed in North America by the University of Chicago Press
Colonization in U.S. politics and society -- Suriname in Dutch colonial history -- Global context of post-emancipation labor -- The Dutch diplomatic network -- Racial thinking -- The translated documents
Summary
During the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln's administration engaged in protracted negotiations with representatives of the Netherlands to aid in the voluntarily colonization of free African Americans to Suriname. Scores of diplomatic letters in Dutch, English, and French, dating to the period 1862 to 1866 attest to the very real possibility that such migration stream could have become a reality. They also indicate reasons why this scheme failed: it was bogged down by differences of opinion, mail delays, and ultimately a reluctance of any African Americans to migrate. Previously unpublished and unknown, these letters have been transcribed and translated here for the first time. The sources provide a rare look inside the minds of liberal government officials during the age of emancipation in the Atlantic World. They demonstrate the officials' humanitarian concerns, their racial prejudices, respect for legal order and process, and faith in governments to solve international problems
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 294-296) and index
Notes
Includes materials in Dutch and French with English translations
Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on December 13, 2019)
