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The Kidnapping Club: Wall Street, Slavery, and Resistance on the Eve of the Civil War
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About This Book
Winner of a 2020-2021 New York City Book AwardIn a rapidly changing New York, two forces battled for the city's soul: the pro-slavery New Yorkers who kept the illegal slave trade alive and well, and the abolitionists fighting for freedom. We often think of slavery as a southern phenomenon, far removed from the booming cities of the North. But even though slavery had been outlawed in Gotham by the 1830s, Black New Yorkers were not safe. Not only was the city built on the backs of slaves; it was essential in keeping slavery and the slave trade alive. In The Kidnapping Club, historian Jonathan Daniel Wells tells the story of the powerful network of judges, lawyers, and police officers who circumvented anti-slavery laws by sanctioning the kidnapping of free and fugitive African Americans. Nicknamed "The New York Kidnapping Club," the group had the tacit support of institutions from Wall Street to Tammany Hall whose wealth depended on the Southern slave and cotton trade. But a small cohort of abolitionists, including Black journalist David Ruggles, organized tirelessly for the rights of Black New Yorkers, often risking their lives in the process. Taking readers into the bustling streets and ports of America's great Northern metropolis, The Kidnapping Club is a dramatic account of the ties between slavery and capitalism, the deeply corrupt roots of policing, and the strength of Black activism.
Reviews
"In The Kidnapping Club, Wells shows how the 'booming and prosperous metropolis' of antebellum New York City profited from the rendition to the South of escaped slaves who sought freedom in the North ..."
"Wells...meticulously details two of New York City's dirtiest secrets: the city's illicit backing of the illegal transatlantic slave trade and the Kidnapping Club that helped reinforce it ..."
"Wells makes a significant contribution to the literature of American slavery with a powerful book ..."
"The result is a revealing look at a little-known chapter in the history of racial injustice."
"The Kidnapping Club is meant to read as parable for today, but Wells's eagerness to tell a dark but inspiring story—of how radical Black activists and their white allies challenged a broken criminal justice and capitalist system—at times leads him to elide significant historical details ..."
"Well's lively writing style and skillful portrayal of the culture of mid-19th century America further adds to this excellent work ..."
"The author populates his pages with characters who are little known to history ..."
"They snatched up children, as well as adults, and sold them into slavery ..."
"thoroughly researched."
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