An obsessive genealogist and descendent of one of the most prominent Jewish families since the American Revolution, Blanche Moses firmly believed her maternal ancestors were Sephardic grandees. Yet she found herself at a dead end when it came to her grandmother's maternal line. Using family heirlooms to unlock the mystery of Moses's ancestors, Once We Were Slaves overturns the reclusive heiress's assumptions about her family history to reveal that her grandmother and great-uncle, Sarah and Isaac Brandon, actually began their lives as poor Christian slaves in Barbados. Tracing the siblings' extraordinary journey throughout the Atlantic World, Leibman examines artifacts they left behind in Barbados, Suriname, London, Philadelphia, and, finally, New York, to show how Sarah and Isaac were able to transform themselves and their lives, becoming free, wealthy, Jewish, and--at times--white. While their affluence made them unusual, their story mirrors that of the largely forgotten population of mixed African and Jewish ancestry that constituted as much as ten percent of the Jewish communities in which the siblings lived, and sheds new light on the fluidity of race--as well as on the role of religion in racial shift--in the first half of the nineteenth century.

Before the American Revolution, Newport was one of the biggest ports on the eastern seaboard thanks to its religious freedom and lack of effective control by Britain. Its then free-running economy based on international trading would face many challenges and changes over the 18th and 19th centuries.

A richly illustrated survey of the history and culture of Rhode Island Jews.

Take a delectable journey through the religious history of chocolate—a real treat! Explore the surprising Jewish and other religious connections to chocolate in this gastronomic and historical adventure through cultures, countries, centuries and convictions. Rabbi Deborah Prinz draws from her world travels on the trail of chocolate to enchant chocolate lovers of all backgrounds as she unravels religious connections in the early chocolate trade and shows how Jewish and other religious values infuse chocolate today. With mouth-watering recipes, a glossary of chocolaty terms, tips for buying luscious, ethically produced chocolate, a list of sweet chocolate museums around the world and more, this book unwraps tasty facts such as: Some people—including French (Bayonne) chocolate makers—believe that Jews brought chocolate making to France. The bishop of Chiapas, Mexico, was poisoned because he prohibited local women from drinking chocolate during Mass. Although Quakers do not observe Easter, it was a Quaker-owned chocolate company—Fry's—that claimed to have created the first chocolate Easter egg in the United Kingdom. A born-again Christian businessman in the Midwest marketed his caramel chocolate bar as a "Noshie," after the Yiddish word for “snack.” Chocolate Chanukah gelt may have developed from St. Nicholas customs. The Mayan “Book of Counsel” taught that gods created humans from chocolate and maize.

Take a trip with Larry Stanford through 350 years of Newport's hidden, dark history. Founded by a small band of religious freedom seekers in 1639, Newport, Rhode Island, subsequently became a bustling colonial seaport teeming with artists, sailors, prosperous merchants and, perhaps most distinctively, the ultra-rich families of the Gilded Age. Clinging to the lavish coattails of these newly minted millionaires and robber barons was a stream of con artists and hangers-on who attempted to leech off their well-to-do neighbors. From the Vanderbilts to the Dukes, the Astors to the Kennedys, the City by the Sea has served as a sanctuary for the elite, and a hotbed of corruption. Local historian Larry Stanford pulls back the curtain on over 350 years of history, uncovering the real stories behind many of Newport's most enduring mysteries, controversial characters and scintillating scandals.

First Published in 1990. American slavery began in Africa. An understanding of slavery begins with the African slave trade and the domestic slave trade. Both were indispensable to the creation of the New World slave societies, including the colonies that became the United States. This book is part of a eighteen volume series collecting nearly four hundred of the most important articles on slavery in the United States. Volume 2 looks at the domestic and foreign slave trade and migration and includes pioneering articles in the history of slavery, important break-throughs in research and methodology, and articles that offer major historiographical interpretations.