dann j. Broyld

In Borderland Blacks: Two Cities in the Niagara Region during the Final Decades of Slavery, dann j. Broyld argues, “Rochester and St. Catharines, located at the end of the Niagara branch of the Underground Railroad, developed cross-national relations that benefited those on both sides of the border” (pg. 1). He further argues, “Black inhabitants of each city possessed transnational identities and strategically positioned themselves near the American-Canadian partition where immigration, movement, and interaction occurred” (pgs. 2-3). Broyld focuses on the social, political, economic, and other developments of the Black communities in each city, drawing out narratives that help demonstrate how Black residents often moved between the two cities either due to the constraints of slavery or for new opportunities on one or the other side of the border. He concludes, “The American-Canadian border did not have a singular meaning to Blacks; it was a pluralistic entity, actively moving between relevance (it divided two nations, legal bodies, and Blacks who reached Canada could not be recaptured without difficulty) and triviality (Blacks ignored and transcended the border by means of social organizations, annual celebrations, and regular crossings to connect with others of common cause)” (pg. 10).

Broyld continues, “Because Blacks had limited access to conventional political means, they were forced to maneuver between the power structures of the United States and Canada in order to create spaces for their own agendas” (pg. 26). Of Rochester, NY, Broyld writes, “Rochester maintained traits unique to borderland places, including the fact that federal law could be blurred or simply not enforced at all. Its proximity to British soil clearly provided power and options” (pg. 50). Rochester was close enough to Canada, both by land and by water, that Black residents could easily relocate if necessary, but not as close as Buffalo or Niagara Falls, NY, which attracted greater attention from slavecatchers. Of St. Catharines, Canada West, Broyld argues that the Black community maintained connections with their American neighbors while having greater legal rights under British law. They also formed a flourishing community with connections to the local white community, including some interracial relationships (pg. 111). Black residents could vote (pg. 131) and, when they faced racist violence, found recourse in the courts (pg. 112, 132). Broyld concludes, “The Niagara region acted as a hybrid-gathering place for fugitives and a negotiating chip between American and British Canadian authorities. By challenging the notions of statehood, Blacks exposed the gap between border control rhetoric of complete sovereignty and the day-to-day reality of actual movement in the borderlands” (pg. 141). Further, “The lack of legal freedoms and political rights drove Blacks to Canada, but political change, opportunity, and family pulled them back to the United States, creating the flow and counterflow at the border” (pg. 145).

Broyld’s study ably demonstrates the power of borderlands theory, expanding upon Eric Foner’s 2015 book, Gateway to Freedom, to examine the terminus of the Underground Railroad. Further, his study of the borderlands draws upon theoretical models developed by Michiel Baud and Willem van Schendel as well as Pekka Hämäläinen. Broyld does for the American-Canadian border what Elliot Young did for the American-Mexican border in his 2014 work, Alien Nation, and what Sasha D. Pack did for the Strait of Gibraltar in his 2019 book, The Deepest Border. Canada, often treated as a terminus in histories of slavery in America, instead becomes an active participant firmly connected to the story of freedom. This work is a must-read for those studying the history of abolition, the Underground Railroad, and transnationalism in early U.S. history.… (more)