Focusing on the master-slave relationship in Louisiana's
antebellum sugarcane country, The Sugar Masters explores how a
modern, capitalist mind-set among planters meshed with old-style
paternalistic attitudes to create one of the South's most
insidiously oppressive labor systems. As author Richard Follett
vividly demonstrates, the agricultural paradise of Louisiana's
thriving sugarcane fields came at an unconscionable cost to
slaves.
Thanks to technological and business innovations, sugar planters
stood as models of capitalist entrepreneurship by midcentury. But
above all, labor management was the secret to their impressive
success. Follett explains how in exchange for increased
productivity and efficiency they offered their slaves a range of
incentives, such as greater autonomy, improved accommodations, and
even financial remuneration. These material gains, however, were
only short term.
According to Follett, many of Louisiana's sugar elite presented
their incentives with a "facade of paternal reciprocity" that
seemingly bound the slaves' interests to the apparent goodwill of
the masters, but in fact, the owners sought to control every aspect
of the slaves's lives, from reproduction to discretionary income.
Slaves responded to this display of paternalism by trying to
enhance their rights under bondage, but the constant bargaining
process invariably led to compromises on their part, and the
grueling production pace never relented. The only respite from
their masters' demands lay in fashioning their own society,
including outlets for religion, leisure, and trade.
Until recently, scholars have viewed planters as either
paternalistic lords who eschewed marketplace values or as
entrepreneurs driven to business success. Follett offers a new view
of the sugar masters as embracing both the capitalist market and a
social ideology based on hierarchy, honor, and paternalism. His
stunning synthesis of empirical research, demographics study, and
social and cultural history sets a new standard for this
subject.
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