Black Odyssey: The Seafaring Traditions of Afro-Americans

Black Americans mentioned in traditional histories of the United States are usually marginal characters, shuffling along the periphery of momentous change. However, recent scholarship has demonstrated otherwise. Now Black Odyssey documents Afro-American involvement in all the nation’s great maritime traditions. In peace and war, from colonial times to the present, black men readily turned to the sea when life ashore proved uncertain or hostile, taking jobs that did not arouse the envy of whites, and perhaps finding a certain solace in the sea’s endless harmonies of wind and wave.

The Author: Born into a casual California lifestyle, disoriented by the chaos of the Sixties, James Farr pursued a number of different career paths, including manual laborer and disc jockey, before taking a doctorate from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Farr has taught a wide range of courses at San José State University, and has published in The Journal of Negro History and California History. He is married and has three delightful sons.