New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
African-American sailors, free and enslaved, crewed riverboats, whaling ships, and many of the merchant vessels that embarked from the port cities of New Bedford, Boston, Newport, and Providence. Scant public knowledge exists on the black merchant seamen and whale men who comprised a significant portion of America’s burgeoning commercial workforce, thus contributing to the first global economy.
Barnett’s project analyzes the contributions and experiences of African-American and Cape Verdean seamen and whale men and the shape of racial thinking in late 18th-century maritime culture. Barnett has taught literature at the City University of New York and is writing a historical novel about an African-American ship captain and his multi-racial crew. This event is sponsored by the New Bedford Historical Society.
