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American slavery : a very short introduction / Heather Andrea Williams.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Very short introductions ; 396.Publisher: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, USA, 2014Description: 140 pages : illustrations ; 18 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780199922680 (pbk.)
  • 0199922683 (pbk.)
Subject(s): LOC classification:
  • E441 .W723 2014
Contents:
The Atlantic slave trade -- Putting slavery into place -- The work of slavery -- Struggles for control -- Surviving slavery -- Taking slavery apart -- Epilogue.
Summary: "This short introduction to American slavery begins with the Portuguese capture of Africans in the 1400s and, drawing upon the scholarship of numerous historians as well as the analysis of primary documents, explores the development of slavery in the American colonies and later, the United States of America. It analyzes early legislation in Virginia that differentiated Indians and Africans from Europeans and began the process of stratifying society based on racial categories. Unlike some recent scholarship, it is attentive to the actual labor that enslaved people performed, reminding us that more than anything else, slavery was a system of forced labor that produced wealth for a new nation. And, it considers the tensions that arose between enslaved and enslavers as they interacted with one another, exerting control and undermining efforts at domination. Throughout, it explores slavery within the context of moral contradiction that included the development of an ideology that valorized freedom alongside a practice and justification of slavery that deemed inferior and denied freedom to a large swath of the population. The book explores conflicts between abolitionists who worked to eliminate slavery and pro-slavery advocates who worked doggedly to sustain the power and wealth they derived from the institution. It ends with the abolition of slavery in America following the Civil War"--
List(s) this item appears in: Oxford very short introduction series
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Barcode
Circulating Book Collection Circulating Book Collection Albright College Library CCM--Ask at Reference Desk General collection 306.362 W723a 2014 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 31856002452751
Total holds: 0

Includes bibliographical references (pages 119-126) and index

The Atlantic slave trade -- Putting slavery into place -- The work of slavery -- Struggles for control -- Surviving slavery -- Taking slavery apart -- Epilogue.

"This short introduction to American slavery begins with the Portuguese capture of Africans in the 1400s and, drawing upon the scholarship of numerous historians as well as the analysis of primary documents, explores the development of slavery in the American colonies and later, the United States of America. It analyzes early legislation in Virginia that differentiated Indians and Africans from Europeans and began the process of stratifying society based on racial categories. Unlike some recent scholarship, it is attentive to the actual labor that enslaved people performed, reminding us that more than anything else, slavery was a system of forced labor that produced wealth for a new nation. And, it considers the tensions that arose between enslaved and enslavers as they interacted with one another, exerting control and undermining efforts at domination. Throughout, it explores slavery within the context of moral contradiction that included the development of an ideology that valorized freedom alongside a practice and justification of slavery that deemed inferior and denied freedom to a large swath of the population. The book explores conflicts between abolitionists who worked to eliminate slavery and pro-slavery advocates who worked doggedly to sustain the power and wealth they derived from the institution. It ends with the abolition of slavery in America following the Civil War"--

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