by Ira Berlin
First published 2016
Berlin examines how enslaved people created independent economic lives despite their legal status as property. They grew their own food crops, cultivated tobacco and cotton for personal profit, bred cattle and pigs, crafted furniture and tools, and sold these goods at local markets. The book's contributors argue that enslaved individuals accumulated wealth, passed down assets to their children, and developed sophisticated trading networks. These economic activities gave them bargaining power with owners and created pathways to freedom. Berlin shows that understanding slavery requires recognizing how bondspeople carved out economic agency within an oppressive system. The volume reveals how their entrepreneurial efforts shaped both plantation life and broader American commerce, leaving a legacy that historians have long overlooked.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, american, african-american, economics, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: academic, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: economic-agency, historical-fiction
Setting: America
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century
213 pages · ebook · Routledge
Content warnings: slavery