Alan D. Watson is professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. One of North Carolina's most prolific historians, he has authored more than fifteen books and numerous articles on various topics in the Tar Heel State's colonial and revolutionary history.

Draws upon 17th- and 18th-century sources to trace the history of African Americans, slave and free, in North Carolina through 1800. The documents are used to outline the arrival of Africans, mechanisms for maintaining the yoke of slavery, slave resistance, manumission, and the challenges facing free blacks. This book presents in an accessible format a variety of primary sources, which are suitable for classroom use and have appeal for historians, genealogists, and anyone curious about the lives of black North Carolinians during the earliest years of the state's history.