Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery

[referencebooks]

Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery

Edited by Randall M. Miller and John David Smith

Published by Greenwood Press, 1988.

This is a 7" by 9.5" black, clothbound book running to 866 pages including a chronology, a lengthy list of contributors, an a substantial index, plus an introduction and "A Note on Using the Dictionary."

Containing nearly 300 articles on topics related to African American slavery in the U.S., this book is aimed at a mixed audience of scholars and public library users.

For an idea of what is covered, here is the full list of entries in the "D" sequence:

• Dance
  
• Declaration of Independence: Slavery And The
  
• Delaware, Slavery In
  
• Democratic Party
  
• Demography
  
• Diet
  
• Disciples of Christ
  
• District of Columbia, Slavery In The
  
• Douglas, Stephen A. (1813-1861)
  
• Douglass, Frederick (1818-1895)
  
• Dred Scott Case
  
• Drivers, Slave
  
• Dubois, Silvia (ca. 1768-1884?)
  
• Durnford, Andrew (1800-1959)
  

Oftentimes reference books that are called "encyclopedias" would really more accurately be called "dictionaries," because they contain several brief entries on a page. The case with this one is the reverse: it's called a "dictionary," but its articles really are encyclopedic in length, depth and scope.

The articles in this book are highly informative, well-written, and don't require significant background knowledge to understand.

This is a very useful book whose only major downside is its datedness, as scholarship in the history of American slavery has no doubt been significant over the past two decades.