Slavery in the American Mountain South

Description

Wilma Dunaway breaks new ground by focusing on slave experiences on small plantations in the Upper South. She argues that a region was not buffered from the political, economic, and social impacts of enslavement simply because it was characterized by low black population density and small slaveholdings. By drawing on a massive statistical data base derived from antebellum census manuscripts and county tax records of 215 counties in nine states, on a vast array of slaveholder manuscripts, and on regional slave narratives, she pinpoints several indicators that distinguished Mountain South enslavement from the Lower South. These include a higher incidence of ethnic mixing between African and Native American slaves, heavier reliance on the field labor of women and children, and more frequent assignment of slaves to non-agricultural occupations. Dunaway also calls into question the notion that large numbers were necessary before slaves could engage in community building and resistance.

'This is an excellent book, a fine companion to her earlier work ...'. Open History '... a hugely impressive achievement ... go[es] a long way towards redressing the balance between 'agency' and 'coerciveness' in American slave studies.' History 'This is an important book ... Dunaway's sophisticated work contributes significantly to our understanding of slavery's role in the upcountry and to the economic and racial dynamics sustaining it in the southern region as a whole.' Ethnic & Racial Studies