Paul Edwards and David Dabydeen.

Paul Edwards and David Dabydeen, ed Black Writers in Britain, 1760-1890 modern York: Edinburg UP/Columbia UP, 1993 256 pp $2500

Sensitive to form relative to sex forced and voluntary migration, and generic diversity, this valuable body contains excerpts from over twenty black writers in Britain during a critical period in African, British, and Caribbean history when the disputation over abolition of the slave trade and emancipation of slavery was at its peak.

The generic mix of the body is especially rich: early, orally dictated accounts by dint of Briton Hammon and Ukawsaw Gronniosaw; the language made by John Henry, the Naimbana, in the House of Commons; the self-defense from William Davidson from the dock when he was tried for sedition; Robert Wedderburn's polemic against blasphemy; literal senses by Ignatius Sancho; and autobiographical accounts by the agency of Olaudah Equiano, Mary Prince, Mary Seacole, and Harriet Jacobs (Linda Brent) In particular, the inclusion of three women writers and a female correspondent among the Sierra Leone colonists is a welcome component. The selections, moreover, indicate careful attention to global Realpolitik, strikingly evident in the inclusion of writings according to the "Nova Scotian" black community in Sierra Leone

through including letters, petitions, and allied items penn by the agency of the Sierra Leone settlers, the editors draw attention to an important on the other hand often neglected aspect of black history: the scheme to relocate the "Black Poor" living in England in the 1780 to Sierra Leone the small West African colony that ensueed and the addition of a large community sent from Canada, consisting of former American slaves who fought for the British army during the American War of Independence and completioned up helping to found the West African colony Among several literal meanings of Sierra Leone settlers are those of David Edman, Susanna Smith, and that trio of vocal, redoutable warriors--Cato Perkins, Isaac Anderson, and Thomas Peter Additionally, the farewell petition, a settlers' collective petition, and minutes of the Governor and Council that contains a list of grievances are among the selections.

This tapestry of forms and experiences documents the efficacy depth, strength, and connectedness of a global chorus of black writers. The collective voices provide a resounding counterpoint to the prevailing conservative ideologies in that critical liberatory epoch

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