Before the Civil War, most Southern white people were as strongly committed to freedom for their kind as to slavery for African Americans. This study views that tragic reality through the lens of eight authors - representatives of a South that seemed, to them, destined for greatness but was, we know, on the brink of destruction. Exceptionally able and ambitious, these men and women won repute among the educated middle classes in the Southwest, South and the nation, even amid sectional tensions. Although they sometimes described liberty in the abstract, more often these authors discussed its practical significance: what it meant for people to make life's important choices freely and to be responsible for the results. They publicly insisted that freedom caused progress, but hidden doubts clouded this optimistic vision. Ultimately, their association with the oppression of slavery dimmed their hopes for human improvement, and fear distorted their responses to the sectional crisis.

An obsessive genealogist and descendent of one of the most prominent Jewish families since the American Revolution, Blanche Moses firmly believed her maternal ancestors were Sephardic grandees. Yet she found herself at a dead end when it came to her grandmother's maternal line. Using family heirlooms to unlock the mystery of Moses's ancestors, Once We Were Slaves overturns the reclusive heiress's assumptions about her family history to reveal that her grandmother and great-uncle, Sarah and Isaac Brandon, actually began their lives as poor Christian slaves in Barbados. Tracing the siblings' extraordinary journey throughout the Atlantic World, Leibman examines artifacts they left behind in Barbados, Suriname, London, Philadelphia, and, finally, New York, to show how Sarah and Isaac were able to transform themselves and their lives, becoming free, wealthy, Jewish, and-at times-white. While their affluence made them unusual, their story mirrors that of the largely forgotten population of mixed African and Jewish ancestry that constituted as much as ten percent of the Jewish communities in which the siblings lived, and sheds new light on the fluidity of race-as well as on the role of religion in racial shift-in the first half of the nineteenth century.

How are economists and historians to explain what happened in history? What statistical inferences can be drawn from historical data? The authors believe that explanation in history can be identified with the problems of prediction in a probabilistic universe. Using this approach, the historian can act upon his "a priori" information and his judgment of what is unique and particular in each past event, even with data hitherto considered to be intractable for statistical treatment. In essence, the book is an argument for and a demonstration of the point of view that the restricted approach of "measurement without theory" is not necessary in history, or at least not necessary in economic history.

After two chapters of theoretical introduction, the authors explore the meanings and implications of evidence, explanation and proof in history by applying econometric methods to the analysis of three major problems in 19th century economic history--the profitability of slavery in the antebellum South, income growth and development in the United States during the 1800's, and The Great Depression in the British economy; also included is a postscript on growth reassessing some current arguments in the light of the findings of these papers.

The book presents an original and provocative approach to historical problems that have long plagued economists and historians and provides the reader with a new approach to these and similar questions.

"Alfred H. Conrad" is professor of business administration at Harvard University. Much of Conrad's work has appeared in professional journals.

"John R. Meyer" is James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Economic Growth emeritus at Harvard University. Meyer's books include "The Investment Decision" and "Economics of Competition in the Transportation Industry." He has served as a board member and economic advisor for various businesses.

Expanding upon the 2017 Radio 4 series 'Britain's Black Past', this book presents those stories and analyses through the lens of a recovered past. Even those who may be familiar with some of the materials will find much that they had not previously known, and will be introduced to people, places, and stories brought to light by new research. In a time of international racial unrest and migration, it is important not to lose sight of similar situations that took place in an earlier time. In chapters written by scholars, artists, and independent researchers, readers will learn of an early musician, the sales of slaves in Scotland, the grave-now a shrine-of a black enslaved boy left to die in Morecombe Bay, of a country estate owned by a mixed-race slave owner, and of the two strikingly different people who lived in a Bristol house that is now a museum. Black sailors, political activists, memoirists, appear in these pages, but the book also re-examines living history, in the form of modern plays, television programmes, and genealogical sleuthing. Through them, Britain's Black Past is not only presented anew, but shown to be very much alive in our own time.

Taking Jamaica as its focus of study, this book analyzes three debates about slave women in the period 1780-1838 which were central to the competing discourses of slavery and abolition: motherhood, marriage and flogging.

Representations of Slave Women in Discourses on Slavery and Abolition, 1780-1838 examines how British abolitionists and pro-slavery activists represented the slave women to their audiences and explain the purposes that these representations served. Henrice Altink shows how the representations were linked to plantation practices, slave laws, and metropolitan discourses, and that they exerted both positive and negative effects on slave women's lives.

This volume makes a welcome contribution to the scholarship on discourses of slavery and abolition, embedding them within their metropolitan and colonial contexts, and showing how they were varied, changing and inconsistent.

'I learned something new on every page of this totally essential book' Sathnam Sanghera In this bold and radical book, award-winning science journalist Angela Saini goes in search of the true roots of gendered oppression, uncovering a complex history of how male domination became embedded in societies and spread across the globe. 'By thinking about gendered inequality as rooted in something unalterable within us, we fail to see it for what it is: something more fragile that has had to be constantly remade and reasserted.' In this bold and radical book, award-winning science journalist Angela Saini goes in search of the true roots of gendered oppression, uncovering a complex history of how male domination became embedded in societies and spread across the globe from prehistory into the present. Travelling to the world's earliest known human settlements, analysing the latest research findings in science and archaeology, and tracing cultural and political histories from the Americas to Asia, she overturns simplistic universal theories to show that what patriarchy is and how far it goes back really depends on where you are. Despite the push back against sexism and exploitation in our own time, even revolutionary efforts to bring about equality have often ended in failure and backlash. Saini ends by asking what part we all play - women included - in keeping patriarchal structures alive, and why we need to look beyond the old narratives to understand why it persists in the present.

"Resisting Bondage in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia" is the companion volume to Slavery and Resistance in Africa and Asia which was published by Routledge in 2005. This second volume, as implied by the title, recognizes the complexity of forms of bondage in the Indian Ocean world - incorporating regions running from East Africa to the Middle East, to South and Southeast Asia to the Far East - and of resistance to them. Slavery, in the conventional sense of the word, was in the region covered one of many, often overlapping, forms of unfree labor that included, in addition, various types of forced or corvee labor, debt bondage and indentured or contract labor. This volume examines resistance to forms of bondage in a variety of precolonial, colonial and postcolonial regimes, from revolt against slavery in South Africa, to resistance to colonial forced labor schemes in Somalia, the Indian Ocean islands of Mayotte and Madagascar, India, Indonesia and Indochina, and the fight of Aborigines for human rights on the cattle ranches of Northern Australia. Just as the companion volume Slavery and Resistance in Africa and Asia revealed that reactions to slavery in Africa and Asia were far more complex than the conventional historical emphasis on forms of 'revolt' implies, this collection of essays reveals an unexpectedly wide range of often very subtle forms of resistance to a variety of repressive labor regimes in the Indian Ocean world. In so doing, it will appeal to all those interested in exploring the wider debate over the structure of unfree labor regimes and resistance to them.

This book explores how modern Egyptians understand the Mamluks and reveals the ways in which that historical memory is utilized for political and ideological purposes. It specifically examines the representations of the Mamluks from two historical periods: the Mamluk Sultanate era (1250-1517) and the Mamluks under the Ottoman era (1517-1811) focusing mostly on the years 1760-1811. Although the Mamluks have had a great impact on the Egyptian collective memory and modern thought, the subject to date has hardly been researched seriously, with most analyses given to stereotypical negative representations of the Mamluks in historical works. However, many Egyptian historians and intellectuals presented the Mamluk era positively, and even symbolized the Sultans as national icons. This book sheds light on the heretofore-neglected positive dimensions of the multifaceted representations of the Mamluks and addresses the ways in which modern Egyptians utilize that collective memory.

The Atlantic Slave Trade from West Central Africa, 1780-1867 traces the inland origins of slaves leaving West Central Africa at the peak period of the transatlantic slave trade. Drawing on archival sources from Angola, Brazil, England, and Portugal, Daniel B. Domingues da Silva explores not only the origins of the slaves forced into the trade but also the commodities for which they were exchanged and their methods of enslavement. Further, the book examines the evolution of the trade over time, its organization, the demographic profile of the population transported, the enslavers' motivations to participate in this activity, and the Africans' experience of enslavement and transportation across the Atlantic. Domingues da Silva also offers a detailed 'geography of enslavement', including information on the homelands of the enslaved Africans and their destination in the Americas.

This important collection of essays examines the history and impact of the abolition of the slave trade and slavery in the Indian Ocean World, a region stretching from Southern and Eastern Africa to the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia and the Far East. Slavery studies have traditionally concentrated on the Atlantic slave trade and slavery in the Americas. In comparison, the Indian Ocean World slave trade has been little explored, although it started some 3,500 years before the Atlantic slave trade and persists to the present day. This volume, which follows a collection of essays The Structure of Slavery in Indian Ocean Africa and Asia (Frank Cass, 2004), examines the various abolitionist impulses, indigenous and European, in the Indian Ocean World during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It assesses their efficacy within a context of a growing demand for labour resulting from an expanding international economy and European colonisation. The essays show that in applying definitions of slavery derived from the American model, European agents in the region failed to detect or deliberately ignored other forms of slavery, and as a result the abolitionist impulse was only partly successful with the slave trade still continuing today in many parts of the Indian Ocean World.

The past half-century has produced a mass of information regarding slave resistance, ranging from individual acts of disobedience to massive uprisings. Many of these acts of rebellion have been studied extensively, yet the ultimate goals of the insurgents remain open for discussion. Recently, several historians have suggested that slaves achieved their own freedom by resisting slavery, which counters the predominant argument that abolitionist pressure groups, parliamentarians, and the governmental and anti-governmental armies of the various slaveholding empires were the prime movers behind emancipation. Marques, one of the leading historians of slavery and abolition, argues that, in most cases, it is impossible to establish a direct relation between slaves' uprisings and the emancipation laws that would be approved in the western countries. Following this presentation, his arguments are taken up by a dozen of the most outstanding historians in this field. In a concluding chapter, Marques responds briefly to their comments and evaluates the degree to which they challenge or enhance his view.

Previously published as a special issue of the journal Slavery and Abolition, this book brings together a series of pioneering studies, by experts in the field, on resistance to forms of bondage in Africa, Asia and the Indian Ocean world. areas, analyse the causes, duration and structure of resistance and underscore similarities and contrasts across the Africa-Asian regions. to what degree, if any, resistance was effective in alleviating the nature of bondage the book provides a comparison with the much more publicised Atlantic system. spectrum of disciplines and area studies.

In the early 19th century, Cuba emerged as the world's largest producer of sugar and the United States its most important buyer. Barely documented today, there was a close commercial relationship between Cuba and the Rhode Island coastal town of Bristol. The citizens of Bristol were heavily involved in the slavery trade and owned sugarcane plantations in Cuba and also served as staff workers at these facilities. Available in print for the first time is a diary that sheds light on this connection. Mr. George Howe, Esquire (1791-1837), documented his tasks at a Bristolian-owned plantation called New Hope, which was owned by well-known Bristol merchant, slave trader, and US senator James DeWolf (1764-1837). Howe expressed mixed personal feelings about local slavery work practices. He felt lucky to be employed and was determined to do his job well, in spite of the harsh conditions operating at New Hope, but he also struggled with his personal feelings regarding slavery. Though an oppressive system, it was at the core of New Hope's financial success and, therefore, Howe's well-being as an employee. This book examines Howe's diary entries in the thematic context of the local Costumbrista literary production. Costumbrismo both documented local customs and critically analyzed social ills. In his letters to relatives and friends Howe depicted a more personal reaction to the underpinnings of slavery practices, a reaction reflecting early abolitionist sentiments.

This book provides a sophisticated investigation into the experience of being exterminated, as felt by victims of the Holocaust, and compares and contrasts this analysis with the experiences of people who have been colonized or enslaved. Using numerous victim accounts and a wide range of primary sources, the book moves away from the 'continuity thesis', with its insistence on colonial intent as the reason for victimization in relation to other historical examples of mass political violence, to look at the victim experience on its own terms. By affording each constituent case study its own distinctive aspects, The Victims of Slavery, Colonization and the Holocaust allows for a more enriching comparison of victim experience to be made that respects each group of victims in their uniqueness. It is an important, innovative volume for all students of the Holocaust, genocide and the history of mass political violence.

'A powerful treatise' - Amelia Gentleman, Guardian In 2019, over 10,000 possible victims of slavery were found in the UK. From men working in Sports Direct warehouses for barely any pay, to teenaged Vietnamese girls trafficked into small town nail bars, we're told that modern slavery is all around us, operating in plain sight. But is this really slavery, and is it even a new phenomenon? Why has the British Conservative Party called it 'one of the great human rights issues of our time', when they usually ignore the exploitation of those at the bottom of the economic pile? The Truth About Modern Slavery reveals how modern slavery has been created as a political tool by those in power. It shows how anti-slavery action acts as a moral cloak, hiding the harms of the 'hostile environment' towards migrants, legitimising big brands' exploitation of the poorest workers and oppressing sex workers. Blaming the media's complicity, rich philanthropists' opportunism and our collective failure to realise the lies we're being told, The Truth About Modern Slavery provides a vital challenge to conventional narratives on modern slavery.

From the Darkness Cometh the Light (1891) is a memoir by Lucy A. Delaney. Published in St. Louis in the last year of Delaney's life, the work is regarded as an essential slave narrative and the only firsthand account of a freedom suit, by which some enslaved African Americans were able to achieve their freedom prior to emancipation. Twentieth century scholars of feminism and African American literature in particular have upheld her work and continue to celebrate her influence on the historical and cultural development of the nation. "On a dismal night in the month of September, Polly, with four other colored persons, were kidnapped, and, after being securely bound and gagged, were put into a skiff and carried across the Mississippi River to the city of St. Louis. Shortly after, these unfortunate negroes were taken up the Missouri River and sold into slavery." Tracing her mother's life back to this tragic event, Lucy A. Delaney tells a story of enslavement, hardship, and perseverance, the story of her family's struggle for freedom. As a young woman, Polly brought two lawsuits to court in St. Louis in the hopes of freeing herself and her daughter from slavery. Following their historic victory, mother and daughter remained together as Lucy attempted to start a family of her own. Despite losing her first husband and several children from her second marriage, Lucy remained dedicated to serving God and her community as a leader in her church and president of several organizations for the empowerment of African American women. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Lucy Delaney's From the Darkness Cometh the Light is a classic of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.

From John Hope Franklin, America's foremost African American historian, comes this groundbreaking analysis of slave resistance and escape. A sweeping panorama of plantation life before the Civil War, this book reveals that slaves frequently rebelled against their masters and ran away from their plantations whenever they could.
For generations, important aspects about slave life on the plantations of the American South have remained shrouded. Historians thought, for instance, that slaves were generally pliant and resigned to their roles as human chattel, and that racial violence on the plantation was an aberration. In this precedent setting book, John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger demonstrate that, contrary to popular belief, significant numbers of slaves did in fact frequently rebel against their masters and struggled to attain their freedom. By surveying a wealth of documents, such as planters' records, petitions to county courts and state legislatures, and local newspapers, this book shows how slaves resisted, when, where, and how they escaped, where they fled to, how long they remained in hiding, and how they survived away from the plantation. Of equal importance, it examines the reactions of the white slaveholding class, revealing how they marshaled considerable effort to prevent runaways, meted out severe punishments, and established patrols to hunt down escaped slaves.
Reflecting a lifetime of thought by our leading authority in African American history, this book provides the key to truly understanding the relationship between slaveholders and the runaways who challenged the system--illuminating as never before the true nature of the South's "most peculiar institution."

"Slavery and Emancipation" is the most up-to-date and comprehensive collection of primary and secondary readings on the history of slaveholding in the American South. It combines recent historical research with period documents to bring both immediacy and perspective to the origins, principles, realities, and aftermath of African-American slavery. Central topics include the colonial foundations of slavery, the master-slave relationship, the cultural world of the planters, the slave community, and slave resistance and rebellion.

Each topical section contains one major article by a prominent historian, and three primary documents. The documents have been drawn from a wide variety of sources, including plantation records, travellers' accounts, slave narratives, autobiographies, statute law, diaries, letters, and investigative reports. This material has been carefully chosen to benefit students and readers of the history of African-American slavery and emancipation.

"Slavery and Emancipation" is the most up-to-date and comprehensive collection of primary and secondary readings on the history of slaveholding in the American South. It combines recent historical research with period documents to bring both immediacy and perspective to the origins, principles, realities, and aftermath of African-American slavery. Central topics include the colonial foundations of slavery, the master-slave relationship, the cultural world of the planters, the slave community, and slave resistance and rebellion.

Each topical section contains one major article by a prominent historian, and three primary documents. The documents have been drawn from a wide variety of sources, including plantation records, travellers' accounts, slave narratives, autobiographies, statute law, diaries, letters, and investigative reports. This material has been carefully chosen to benefit students and readers of the history of African-American slavery and emancipation.

This is a collection of 20 profiles of prominent Israeli writers, including Agnon, Yehuda Amichai, Aaron Appelfeld, Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua, David Grossman, Meir Shalev, Orly Castel-Bloom and Dorit Rabinyan. Each profile is based upon interviews and research and provides intimate background to each writer and their work. Together, the 20 Close Encounters create a panorama of the Israeli experience - diaspora, Holocaust, immigration, gender, the tension between religious and secular, Sephardi and Ashkenazi, Jews and Arabs.

Contents:
1. Introduction
2. The English and Slavery
3. The Scriblerus Club
4. Writing the Peace
5. Pope
6. Gay
7. Swift
8. Conclusion

The abolition of slavery in and around the Western Indian Ocean have been little studied. This collection examines the meaning of slavery and its abolition in relation to specific indigenous societies and to Islam, a religion that embraced the entire region, and draws comparisons between similar developments in the Atlantic system. Case studies include South Africa, Mauritius, Madagascar, the Benadir Coast, Arabia, the Persian Gulf and India. This volume marks an important new development in the study of slavery and its abolition in general, and an original approach to the history of slavery in the Indian Ocean and Asia regions.