North of Slavery offers a bracing account of the life of free African Americans in the North across nearly two centuries before the Civil War. Leon F. Litwack draws on a vast store of archival evidence to paint a picture of antebellum America that is significantly more complicated and nuanced than the common view that flatly contrasts the North and the South. Instead, he shows that, while Black people in the North had many opportunities that were denied in the South, they nonetheless faced segregation, repression, and violence. At the same time, Litwack reveals the many ways in which the enslaved population in the South resisted their bondage. 

This book was a landmark when it was published in 1965, and it has remained a crucial source for our understanding of American history ever since.

“No American can be pleased with the treatment of Negro Americans, North and South, in the years before the Civil War. In his clear, lucid account of the Northern phase of the story Professor Litwack has performed a notable service.”

— John Hope Franklin, Journal of Negro Education

"For a searching examination of the North Star Legend we are indebted to Leon F. Litwack."

— C. Vann Woodward, American Scholar

"This book promptly ranks with the major works in the history of American Negroes. . . . It is a triumph of careful scholarship and
straightforward historical writing.”

— Richard Bardolph, American Historical Review

"Fills an important gap not only in the history of the Negro but in the history of the United States . . . an excellent example of living history.”

— E. Franklin Frazier, Journal of Southern History