In the first-ever comprehensive analysis of violence among enslaved people in the antebellum South, Jeff Forret challenges persistent notions of slave communities as sites of unwavering harmony and solidarity. Though existing scholarship shows that intraracial black violence did not reach high levels until after Reconstruction, contemporary records bear witness to its regular presence among enslaved populations. Using a vast array of primary sources, Slave against Slave explores the roots of and motivations for such violence and the ways in which slaves, masters, churches, and civil and criminal laws worked to hold it in check. Far from focusing on violence alone, the book also deepens understanding of morality among the enslaved, revealing how they sought to prevent violence and punish those who engaged in it. With this groundbreaking work, Forret has opened a new line of inquiry into the study of American slavery.
P>Review Slave against Slave makes a significant contribution to the field. This well-researched book provocatively traces the history of intraracial violence among those enslaved.--Journal of Southern HistoryForrets archival research is broad, thorough, detailed, and imaginatively deployed. . . . Highly recommended.--ChoiceGuaranteed to add mightily to the discourses on slavery, violence, and the implication of both for years to come.--Journal of the Civil War Era About the Author: Jeff Forret is professor of history and a Distinguished Faculty Research Fellow at Lamar University. He is also the author of Race Relations at the Margins: Slaves and Poor Whites in the Antebellum Southern Countryside and Williams Gang: A Notorious Slave Trader and His Cargo of Black Convicts.- We ship across Australia, including major cities like: Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Canberra, Newcastle and the Gold Coast