"Jubilee provides a clear-eyed chronicle of slavery and its enormous effect on our nation's history and economy, tracing the origin and development of the slave trade and the realities of life for Africans - slaves, runaways, and freedmen alike - in pre-Civil War America. The book also illustrates how the conditions of the "peculiar institution" were transformed into a vibrant, distinctively African-American culture, a complex and fascinating process of social, cultural, political, and economic change that embraces everything from language and religion to family life and self-expression. This stunning lesson in human adaptability shows how men and women with no rights - and often not even a language in common - nevertheless formed strong communities, melded African beliefs with Christianity to create a new, comforting, and joyous religious tradition, and survived deliberately dehumanizing oppression without ever surrendering their individuality."--BOOK JACKET.