Slavery After Slavery: Revealing the Legacy of Forced Child Apprenticeships on Black Families, from Emancipation to the Present

by Mary Frances Berry

An acclaimed historian narrates the stories of newly emancipated children who were re-enslaved by white masters through apprenticeships and their parents fights to free themWhile the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery, white southerners established a system of apprenticeship after the Civil War that entrapped Black children and their families, leading to undue hardships for generations to come. In Slavery After Slavery, historian Mary Frances Berry traces the stories behind individual cases from southern supreme courts to demonstrate how formerly enslaved families and their descendants were systemically injured through white supremacist practices, perpetuated by the legal system.By filling in the family trees of formerly enslaved people to their descendants, Berry documents the intergenerational harm they experienced. The resulting damage of trafficking Black children through apprenticeship laws has been a largely overlooked source of inequality, yet these cases provide specific examples of the kind of economic and physical harm Black families have endured.Slavery After Slavery tells individual stories, but the fates of their descendants tell our collective American story—contributing powerfully to a case for reparations and restorative justice.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Historical, Audiobook, American History

184 pages, Hardcover

First published January 21, 2025

Reviews

[Fanchen Bao · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book reads like a powerpoint presentation without bullets. Having each chapter dedicate to one family does not work for me, because I have barely any time to know one set of characters before they are booted off the stage for a new bunch. This, in my opinion, contributes a lot to the lack of readability.

The book talks about a very important topic. While emancipation in theory is a good deed, emancipation in reality without a plan and will to help the emancipated establish themselves in a new world is no liberation. The Union did enforce a period Military Reconstruction to right the wrongs, but it never resolved the core issue of the South and survived too briefly to make any lasting impacts. Overall for the South, the aftermath of emancipation merely means, as the book's title suggests, slavery after slavery.

Unfortunately, I don't think the book, which reads like a litany of who-does-what-at-when, does justice to the topic. Perhaps, instead of treating each family separately, the book could combine their lived experiences and present them as a coherent albeit semi-fictional story. Historical fiction seems a much better genre fit for the book.

Memorable quotes from the book:

Also, the state could legally apprentice any child who was born out of wedlock. This definition, of course, included anyone born a slave since slaves could not marry legally.

-- p37 This was definitely a feature not a bug. Since slaves were not allowed to be married legally, all of their offsprings were illegitimate and open for indenture.

This is when slaves' inability to marry worked in Sarah Lacy Pope's favor. In rejecting Timmins's appeal, Chief Justice Moore noted that the apprenticeship arrangement seemed to be approved by Harry Pope in opposition to the acknowledged mother. However, he wrote, "it is a universally recognized principle of common law, that the father of a bastard has no parental power or authority over such illegitimate offspring." The maternal parent wins, and Mary Timmins loses.

-- p62 Despite being an awful law, it was occasionally helpful. As the saying goes, even a broken clock is correct twice a day.

Montgomery, a Confederate supporter, focused only on the legislation involved, explaining that under still existing state child-custody law enacted during Military Reconstruction, " a colored child, born before the 9th day of March 1866, within what was regarded as a state of wedlock between its parents, while slaves, and who is acknowledged by its father, is the legitimate child of both parents."

-- p70 The Reconstruction came to rescue the awful old practice. However, Reconstruction didn't last long enough to facilitate a culture shift.

[♡︎.ᐟજ⁀➴ Erie · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨🌍4 Stars 🌍✨

Thank you to Beacon Press and GoodReads for the giveaway! 🙏📚

This book is a masterful and necessary examination of a dark yet often overlooked chapter in American history. 💔 Mary Frances Berry unveils the horrifying reality of court-sanctioned forced child apprenticeships that continued to exploit Black children and families long after slavery was officially abolished. Through meticulously researched court cases and deeply personal narratives, Slavery After Slavery exposes the insidious ways in which white supremacy found new legal avenues to sustain racial oppression. 🇺🇸⚖️

💙 Three Things I Loved:

✔️ The meticulous research and storytelling. Berry presents ten compelling court cases that breathe life into this history, making it impossible to ignore. Each case is both a legal battle and a deeply human struggle.
✔️ The book’s relevance to today. This isn’t just a history lesson—it’s an urgent call to recognize the long-lasting impact of systemic racism and to advocate for reparations and justice.
✔️ Berry’s ability to blend academic rigor with emotional depth. The stories of these children and their families are heart-wrenching, yet Berry ensures that their resistance and resilience are just as visible as their suffering.

🤔 Three Things That Left Me Reeling:

❌ The sheer cruelty of the legal system. Reading about how courts upheld these so-called apprenticeships as legal was infuriating. 😡
❌ The generational trauma. Berry’s exploration of the long-term consequences of these injustices makes it clear that slavery’s legacy extends far beyond 1865.
❌ How little this history is discussed. It’s shocking how these stories have been erased from mainstream narratives about post-Civil War America.

Despite the pain in these pages, Slavery After Slavery is a must-read. It offers an unflinching look at America’s unfinished business with racial justice and forces us to confront history’s ongoing impact. 🌐💡

📚 Read this book if you like:

🎯 Groundbreaking historical narratives that challenge conventional understandings of American history.
🇺🇸 Books about systemic racism, legal battles, and the fight for justice.
🧬 Thought-provoking nonfiction that fuels activism and awareness.

Slavery After Slavery is not just a book—it’s an indictment of America’s failure to reckon with its past, and a necessary contribution to the fight for truth and justice. 🌟

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a brutal topic and it's unbelievable that it's not more well known. The book details how, after Emancipation, white plantation owners used apprenticeship laws to steal black children from their families and, in everything but name, force them back into slavery. Extremely important that this becomes better understood, and taken into account when reparations and inequality are discussed. Unfortunately, this book is not an easy read - it's hard to follow the chapter structure or keep track of the names and dates, as the timeline and families discussed are constantly changing. I don't think this is very accessible as a general audience book, but it seems like an important documentation of these facts and family histories, and I hope future works build on it.

[Maddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the information this book was written about was super interesting and sad, but I didn’t like how each chapter was a new story.

[Laurie Morse-Dell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting but hard to follow a lot of the history the way it was written.