The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of the Haitian Revolution.

• Author: Da Cruz, Joshua

Scott, Julius S. The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of the Haitian Revolution. New York: Verso, 2018.

Julius Scott, a lecturer of African American and African studies at the University of Michigan, provides an in-depth look at the spread of information among the free and enslaved blacks in the New World during the eighteenth century. Scott pays special attention to the role of sailors in the spreading of information among people who would normally have restricted access to that information. The author originally started this work as his doctoral dissertation at Duke University. Although initially interested in publishing his manuscript with Duke University Press, Scott refused to make the edits required by the press. The book, therefore, was not published until thirty-two years later by Verso Books. The Common Wind holds the potential of shaping the understanding of a new generation of scholars and students of the Age of the Haitian Revolution.

Scott shows how successful the rumor mill was when it was fueling unrest among groups of disenfranchised blacks in the West Indies and the colonies in the third chapter when discussing the French Revolution. The author cites interesting primary sources from governing officials who outright say that they are shocked to find the people of color already are hearing news around the same time officials are reading documents. These primary sources are used by the author in such a way as to show the reader exactly how the information was coming from foreign countries but also how the roots of the unrest among these communities are fueled by political revolutions abroad. In the same chapter Scott argues that the free men of color working at the docks are excited about the coming revolution and then spread information to other workers on the docks and boats and that information would then travel to other port cities where the information would then continue to spread. Effectively, the information was infecting almost every oppressed person of color it reached, getting people excited for the coming revolution. Scott even cites political officials, such as John Adams, who show admiration for these oppressed people and how they spread information so quickly.

While the third chapter deals more with free and enslaved black dock or coastal workers spreading information, the fourth chapter speaks more on the sailors themselves who would spread information. This chapter seems to also be where...