MADAGASCAR IN THE MAKING OF NEGRO AMERICA: Malagasy Men, Women, and Children in Atlantic Slavery and the Erasure of Identity, 1498–1800 Carolinas • Virginia • New York • Jamaica

Madagascar in the Making of Negro America reveals a hidden dimension of early American history by tracing the presence of Malagasy men, women, and children from the Indian Ocean into the Atlantic world between 1498 and 1800.Through legal records, shipping routes, and colonial systems, the book demonstrates how individuals from Madagascar were transported into regions such as the Carolinas, Virginia, New York, and the Caribbean, where they became part of emerging labor and social structures.At its core, the work shows that terms like “Negro,” “mulatto,” and “colored” were not ethnic identities but legal classifications imposed by colonial authorities. These labels obscured distinct origins and reshaped how people were recorded, remembered, and understood.Using a legal-historical and genealogical approach, the book introduces a framework explaining how documentation and policy transformed individuals into categories—what Lonzado A. Langley defines as the process by which paper replaces people.By uncovering these patterns, the book provides readers with tools to look beyond the limitations of historical records and to better understand the true complexity of ancestry in early America. Read more