American Slavery: 1619-1877

by Peter Kolchin

The single best short survey in America, now updated.
Includes a New Preface and Afterward

In terms of accessibility and comprehensive coverage, Kolchin's American Slavery is a singularly important achievement. Now updated to address a decade of new scholarship, the book includes a new preface, afterword, and revised and expanded bibliographic essay. It remains the best book to introduce a subject of profound and lasting importance, one that lies at the center of American history.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, Race, African American, Civil War, School

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Peter Robert Kolchin was an American historian. He specialized in slavery and labor in the American South before and after the Civil War, and in comparisons with Russian serfdom and other forms of labor. Kolchin won the Bancroft Prize in American History and the Avery O. Craven Award for his book Unfree Labor: American Slavery and Russian Serfdom (1987).

Reviews

[Kara Corthron · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate bestowing any book with only a star, but this one was very problematic. I read it for research and I did learn a few things I didn't know and discovered some better resources in the bibliography, but it was disturbing to read a book about slavery in America from a white supremacist perspective--and I am certain the author didn't intend that.

Here are a few gems. Brackets are mine:
"Still, this undertaking [masters managing their estates without the use of an overseer] required of slave owners an extraordinary commitment to engaging in the details of daily plantation life that was largely incompatible with their typical desire to reign as benevolent patriarchs who set overall policy but did not sully their hands with the mundane course of life's numerous petty squabbles." - I'm sorry, benevolent patriarchs?? If the author is being tongue-in-cheek here, it is absolutely unclear.

"Newly imported slaves came from diverse countries with a variety of languages and customs and at first lacked a sense of being Africans. [Really???] In America, however, the contrast that was most striking was between black and white, African and European, and a generalized African identity came to assume greater salience than that of any particular African nationality." -
Um, what?? Where is the evidence that enslaved people in pre- and post-colonial America decided that their former cultural customs just weren't that important anymore?

"...newly imported slaves offered pervasive resistance to the conditions under which they found themselves. [Duh.] They ignored the Anglicized names their owners awarded them..."
Awarded?? That's the creepiest way I've ever seen that word used.

"Although both African and American-born slaves ran away for a wide variety of reasons..." -
OK that one made me laugh out loud. If there are folks reading this book that need "reasons" for why people escaped slavery, please pick up a different book; this one ain't gonna help you.

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an overview of American slavery from its beginnings through its abolishment with the 13th amendment. Kolchin breaks down the differences between the different eras of slavery: Colonial, American Revolution, and Antebellum years. There is also a chapter that discusses slavery from the white southerners perspective during those years after the Civil War. Where this is a somewhat small book (under 300 pages), it provides a very clear understanding of the different topics that were affected by slavery without digging too deep.

This particular edition provides a very nice bibliography and Kolchin discusses areas of slavery that have had little to no research / scholarly written works. This makes a great resource for scholarly writing.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent overview of the history--and controversies about the history--of slavery in the United States of America from 1619 until the approximate end of Reconstruction in 1877. Clearly written, well thought out, this book is particularly notable for its superbly annotated bibliography.

[Belle Harris]

i swear this author was always going in circles.

(read for college class)

[Yonis Gure · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good single-volume, general synthesis on the institution of American slavery. Kolchin covers a lot of ground in roughly 300 pages: the institutions rise and fall, slavery's relationship to the American and wider global economy, the peculiar features of the slave-master relationship, etc. A bit outdated however, given the abundance of scholarship that now exists on the connections between slavery and the development/expansion of American capitalism, a subject Kolchin is almost entirely silent on - side from a few sections where he barely gets beyond uttering the sort of banalities now frequently attacked in the discipline: "Slavery was a particular variant of American Capitalism".

If you are looking for an up-to-date general history on American slavery, one that takes into account recent historical scholarship on Slavery and Capitalism and incorporates gender, legal and race studies, Calvin Schermerhorn's book, Unrequited Toil, is your best bet.

[A.D. Stranik · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping to learn something about the conditions by which this particular era of slavery was even possible. I wanted to have a better understanding of the society from which millions of people were stolen. Unfortunately, this book is heavy on statistics and repetition but light on how American slavery happened in the first place. Also, the regular use of the term ‘peculiar institution’ implies that American slavery was some kind of sociological eccentricity instead of the two-hundred and fifty-year holocaust that it was.

[Nick Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

an excellent, short book that taught me a few things. docked one star for recurring and inexplicable repetitions.

[Suze Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clear and interesting overview of American slavery.

[Andrew H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finely written and researched.

[Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kolchin’s purpose in writing his book, American Slavery, is to display to his audience that slavery was a devastating time for African Americans. His purpose is to have readers visualize all the struggles and hardships these individuals faced throughout their lives. This book impacts its audience in ways that makes them view life differently as a slave. This will have a lasting value on individuals because slavery still exists to this present day. Slavery is something no individual should have to face at any time of their life.

This book is well written. It is written in a way where readers can visualize what’s happening and what the slaves went through. The book is written based on actual facts that happened to African Americans. The book American Slavery starts with the cause of slavery in the sixteen hundreds. “The initial demand for labor that eventually led to slavery was...color blind” (Kolchin 1). The author mentions the growth of slavery, not just by quoting information, but by providing real conditions the slaves were put through, through the experiences and difficult times the slaves had to encounter. “Blackness” suggested immorality, and of course whiteness implied purity” (Kolchin 14).

The greatest strength of American Slavery was that Kolchin provided well detailed experiences from slaves. He made sure to grab the reader’s attention and make sure that anyone reading the book wouldn’t be uninterested. The weakness of the book was mainly not enough explicit facts about what happened to the slaves. This novel is truly tremendous. I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who loves learning about slavery. This novel gives great facts about the hard times that African Americans faced on an everyday basis.

[Aurélien Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Kolchin retraces here the history of slavery in the USA, from the arriving of the first slaves in Jamestown in 1619, up until after the Civil War, those ending, in 1865, had led to its abolition.

He retells about its origins, and offers a swift survey of its history back when the USA were still a British colony. He describes its impact during the American Civil War, then its evolution during the Antebellum. He explores how life was for slaves, their masters, and the strange relationships that tied them together. He shows how such 'peculiar institution' had shaped the South -politically, socially, economically- to such a point that southern states didn't hesitate to go onto war just so as to defend it. Finally, he recounts its abolition and its consequences, not only for African-Americans but, American society as a whole.

Divided into chronological chapters, themselves divided into thematical sub-chapters, his is a very simple approach that makes the understanding of such a complex topic quite straightforward and easy. In fact, he even compares it with other of its contemporary models, where whole groups were also 'enslaved' in the name of inegalitarian principles (e.g. in Jamaica, Haiti... but also serfdom in Russia) in an endeavour which might seem surprising at first, but, reveals itself to be very enlightening, so as to fully understand the true horror and particularism of American slavery.

A must-read on the topic!

[Nancy Millichap · Rating 4 out of 5]

Throughout this year and part of last year, I've been reading about the history of slavery in this country (and, before that, in the colonies that were to become the country). Kolchin's work is one of four that a book club friend lent me on the topic. Each work, both those on loan and those I selected more directly, has continued to expand my understanding - and has made me recognize how partial and incomplete that understanding still is. Kolchin's focus on the earlier eras of slavery (prior to the more widely studied antebellum years), on comparisons to slavery elsewhere, and on the differing cultures of slavery in different parts of the country (including, through the end of the eighteenth century, the northern colonies/states) were what set his work apart and provided me with new insight. His summary of historical research on the topic, written some years after the original publication of the work, was especially useful in reminding me of how much more I have to learn!

[DORIS · Rating 3 out of 5]

FOR THE RECORD THERE ALSO WHITE BLACK ALL KIND OF RACES DURING SLAVERY. PEOPLES JUST LIKE TO PUT PICTURES UP TALK ABOUT AFRICAN AMERICAN SLAVES. WE OWNED SOME ALSO QUIET A SLEW. GOOD PEOPLES. THEY ARE NOT TO BE USE THEIR NAMES FOR BATTLE. GOT START SOME WHERE GOD LOVE US ALL.STOP. PS. I READ THIS BOOK TWICE.

[AskHistorians]

Nice, quick introduction to Southern Slavery.

[Turkey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Theres a lot of things wrong with this book in my opinion but heres a few things off the top of my head.

Page 106 is the where the author truly loses the plot. I wont quote directly from the book but what he basically says is slaves were only abused for quiet quitting, and mentions slaves actually worked 10% shorter hours than white northern free farmers like its a reason to change careers.

More than once the author alludes to black slaves in america having all sorts of freedoms while in slavery such as the freedom to move around between areas and to hire themselves out as skilled workers and keep the money made after paying their slave master a fee, and while that may sometimes be the case RARELY, theres no mention of the more common practice of not being paid anything and very little about slaves often being treated worse by the 3rd party slave master.
There is very little mentioned of the actual treatment of human beings while in slavery, but the author goes out of his way to say that free black men were no better off than slaves because their options for employment were limited. Suggesting that the only difference between slavery and freedom is getting paid for your work.
This book omits alot of the worst treatment received by slaves and spends a considerable amount of time giving the reader the false sense that slavery was simply a matter of economics and everyone involved really cared a great deal for the conditions and well being of their slaves, but just cared a little bit about money.
This book really just tries to convince you that slavery wasnt all that bad, there is so much misinformation. The author has included some quotes, but the quotes he used to describe the living conditions of slaves more often come from white women who owned the slaves, in Chapter 4 theres two examples. And while its true that conditions were different everywhere, this book spends the majority of the first 130 pages only giving you examples of the best case scenarios.
At one point, he hijacks a Fredrick Douglass quote to show the leniency of a merciful slave owner (lol) and suggest that if only these slaves wouldnt act up there wouldnt be any conflicts.

I do not recommend.

[Jeffrey Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me two attempts in order for me to really dig into this work and understand it. It can be a frustrating book to read if you can't give it a large focus (which is what my problem was at the time, I needed to read something lighter than this). If you can devote the time and attention to this, it is an incredible book. Peter Kolchin brings us through the history of American slavery through colonial times to the beginning of the 20th century.

Because American slavery is so complex of an issue based upon politics and geography, it can sometimes be difficult to keep things straight. He also uses a lot of statistics, which can also be daunting. However, the statistics, politics and geography are very important as it gives context and perspective to his points, as he tells us and shows us the conditions of slaves. He even gives us a daily slave schedule, except in piecemeal. It may seem like he speaks in code as he is very careful in his writing so as not to paint everybody with a broad brush.

We learn from which sections of Africa most slaves came from. We begin to understand how agriculture played a large role in how big the plantations were based upon the type of crop that was planted. He brings us through the differences between European indentured servantude and how that morphed into the modern form of American slavery. He shows us how we cannot look at slavery as just being from Africa to America without understanding how the "African-American" culture came to be and how it differed in various parts of the country. We learn about how colonial slavery was different from antebellum slavery. He covers the impact of the Civil War on slaves and then Reconstruction on the freedpeople.

There are a lot of hidden gems in this exhaustively researched book. It is a tough read so brace yourself. But once you are finished, you will come away with a much better awareness to what happened from 1619-1877. Worth taking the time to read.

[Kevin Fitzpatrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A veritable encyclopedia about American slavery, a book that addresses two hundred and fifty-eight years of history, "American Slavery: 1619-1877" is a comprehensive yet still accessibly short "take" on a subject that has often eluded competent analysis from historians. Yet this book firmly takes hold of its subject matter and cogently and compassionately "explains" it to its readers. So, when one reads the book, one is lead through the start of slavery, where Africans rubbed shoulders with indentured servants, to the immediate antebellum period, which saw pro-slavery polemics rise to an irrational, fevered pitch, and finally to the post war period, where hopes seemed to be about to be fulfilled, only to come crashing down when Reconstruction failed to solve the South's, and the freedman's, dilemmas. However, this is no simple, straightforward narrative that eschews the complex idiosyncrasies of the South's 'peculiar institution.' No, this finely researched work explores the different geographical, historical, and even psychological aspects of its subject matter in a complete and satisfying manner. In fact, when one is finished reading the book, one's previously held misconceptions are washed away by the refreshing waves of Kolchin's impressive array of facts and interpretations. I found this book truly impressive, and my understanding of African-American slavery, and of the world-wide phenomena of impressed servitude of which it was a part of, has been altered in important and life-enhancing ways. A very good book this is!

[Elizabeth Higginbotham · Rating 4 out of 5]

American Slavery, 1619-1877 by Peter Kolchin is a comprehensive history of slavery and importantly addresses the way the nation supportive an infrastructure for exploiting people. I have read much about the topic and found the book sweeping and not capturing man of the nuances in histories of specific population in communities. I did like the comparative view, since there were many stages of unfreedom around the globe. I read the book because I took a class in a life long learning institute.

The book covers the early stages and how slavery took shape in different regions. The colonial era was a time when slavery was stressed in many colonies and the revolution also pushed many questions. There are many compromises in the Constitution, but slavery become embedded in the south with the cotton gin and the fact that the enslaved African reproduced and that meant as tobacco or some crop was going under, the owner could then just sell the enslaved people. These decisions then shape the society, but the economy, life style and ideology. Kolchin does cover the ways that regions become for distinct.

It also covers the war, which initially began about keeping the union, but Lincoln and others had to address slavery since the South was intent on keeping the institution and expanding it to the west. If you know nothing about slavery, you will learn much from this book. I think it filled in some missing pieces for me but did not cover much about gender.

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dry and rather dull introduction to American slavery that is too academic for a general audience and too general for an academic audience. The author makes a few attempts at writing for a general audience, but his academic instinct for almost-impenetrable writing is too strong:

As the existence of slave families and slave religion indicates, large numbers of slaves throughout the antebellum south were able to forge ties other than the master-slave relationship that was central to slavery, in the process creating social and cultural formations that were essentially peripheral to that relationship even though they operated within its overall context" (149).

It's a shame that Kolchin can't bridge the gap between academia and the general public, because of course this is such an important topic. If "war is too important to be left to military men," then history is too important to be left to academics.

[Matu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting and informative read on the history of slavery in the US. Focuses both on the slaves and on the masters and what they thought. It can be a difficult subject sometimes, especially hearing how slaves were thought of/treated by masters, but it is important nonetheless.

Does a good job outlining how American slavery was unique in the context of the different slavery states in the world at the time, including Russian serfdom and Caribbean colonial slavery. Gives a broad outline of the history of slavery not only in Antebellum period, but also in earlier colonial period, which is not something I have heard too much about. A very interesting read.

[Kevin Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I comprehensive overview of slavery life using new research from the last few decades. Instead of the usual Civil War rhetoric or views from the owner's perspective, this book shows what it's like inside the life of slaves and also compares it to other countries enforced labor around the same time. It's extremely educational, but definitely not written to entertain. I read it for a US History course. I know a lot about slavery now, but not necessarily how my new knowledge makes me feel about it.

[Rebekah A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slavery starts in a world that simply does not believe that each human has rights. That is such a contradiction from today. What I learned most about was slave life and how they became "American" instead of purely "African" and how they created communities and cultures. The arguments made were convincing about how this "problem" is both about being acted upon but also being actors--it is not just about white oppression or black individuation but a subtle interweaving of both concepts.

[Matthew Hurst · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent detailed look at American slavery right up the beginning of the 20th Century, the book is more about the factual aspects and less about the stories of the Slaves and can at times repeat itself however if you wish to or need to read a book on the American slave trade, there is no better.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great synthesis of the history of slavery. Kolchin helpfully discusses the historiography of slavery as he addresses the rise and fall of the institution. I would recommend this as a good introduction to the history of American slavery and a great resource for those interested in the historiography and further study.

[Margo Matherne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a great overview of the history of slavery in the United States. It was largely a review of concepts and scholarship I am already familiar with, but did contain some new insights. All this being said, the original publication was in 1993 and there has been a lot of expansion in the historiography of American slavery since then, only some of which is acknowledged in the 2003 revision.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for uni but it was really easy to digest, I’d recommend it to anyone wanting to brush up on early American history. Sometimes the stats are a bit heavy but overall, it’s really informative and consumable.

[F. Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good easy to follow read that encompasses the whole of the slavery in America. Great overview.

[Darren Sapp · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit repetitive in parts but overall a solid work.

[Fresno Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

strong overview

[Mike Pohlman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting perspective on a topic I was not very familiar with. Differences were especially interesting by time period and by region. Comparisons with other slave societies were also interesting.