"First published in 1992, it traced the story of black North Carolinians from the colonial period into the 1990s. A revised edition issued in 2002 that included a new chapter examining the expanding political influence of North Carolina's African Americans and the rise of effective black politicians. This new, second revised edition brings the discussion through the historic presidential election of Barack Obama in 2008"--Page 4 of cover

John Hope Franklin has devoted his professional life to the study of African Americans. Originally published in 1943 by UNC Press, The Free Negro in North Carolina, 1790-1860 was his first book on the subject. As Franklin shows, freed slaves in the antebellum South did not enjoy the full rights of citizenship. Even in North Carolina, reputedly more liberal than most southern states, discriminatory laws became so harsh that many voluntarily returned to slavery.

Draws upon 17th- and 18th-century sources to trace the history of African Americans, slave and free, in North Carolina through 1800. The documents are used to outline the arrival of Africans, mechanisms for maintaining the yoke of slavery, slave resistance, manumission, and the challenges facing free blacks. This book presents in an accessible format a variety of primary sources, which are suitable for classroom use and have appeal for historians, genealogists, and anyone curious about the lives of black North Carolinians during the earliest years of the state's history.