A comprehensive and academic look at the road to freedom for many enslaved and what achieving that freedom meant. It's a common misconception that enslaved African people in the Americas and the Caribbean merely accepted their fate of enslavement, waiting passively for the 19th century when Europeans would finally see the immorality of slavery. In reality, enslaved people fought against slavery from the beginning, both violently and through the legal courts. It was a struggle they endured for the full 300 years of the transatlantic slave trade.

BECOMING FREE, BECOMING BLACK looks at the societies of Cuba, Virginia and Louisiana to investigate the journey to freedom for enslaved peoples in these communities and the difficulties those in power had in accepting the status of freed-person for those who had brought in as slaves. This led to a classification of "black" that defined formerly enslaved people in a way that made it legally acceptable to deny them the rights of citizens.

This book is great because it shines a light on a part of history that is often and pushed aside. The fight for freedom was not done on behalf of enslaved people as they stood by passively but one that they began and were gradually supported in. It is incredibly academic, which at times might be difficult to read if you are unused to reading dense academia but incredibly informative.