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Early American Places
Dark Work: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island
Tells the story of one state in particular whose role in the slave trade was Rhode Island
Historians have written expansively about the slave economy and its vital role in early American economic life. Like their northern neighbors, Rhode Islanders bought and sold slaves and supplies that sustained plantations throughout the Americas; however, nowhere else was this business so important. During the colonial period trade with West Indian planters provided Rhode Islanders with molasses, the key ingredient for their number one rum. More than 60 percent of all the slave ships that left North America left from Rhode Island. During the antebellum period Rhode Islanders were the leading producers of “negro cloth,” a coarse wool-cotton material made especially for enslaved blacks in the American South.
Clark-Pujara draws on the documents of the state, the business, organizational, and personal records of their enslavers, and the few first-hand accounts left by enslaved and free black Rhode Islanders to reconstruct their lived experiences. The business of slavery encouraged slaveholding, slowed emancipation and led to circumscribed black freedom. Enslaved and free black people pushed back against their bondage and the restrictions placed on their freedom. It is convenient, especially for northerners, to think of slavery as southern institution. The erasure or marginalization of the northern black experience and the centrality of the business of slavery to the northern economy allows for a dangerous fiction―that North has no history of racism to overcome. But we cannot afford such a delusion if we are to truly reconcile with our past.
Historians have written expansively about the slave economy and its vital role in early American economic life. Like their northern neighbors, Rhode Islanders bought and sold slaves and supplies that sustained plantations throughout the Americas; however, nowhere else was this business so important. During the colonial period trade with West Indian planters provided Rhode Islanders with molasses, the key ingredient for their number one rum. More than 60 percent of all the slave ships that left North America left from Rhode Island. During the antebellum period Rhode Islanders were the leading producers of “negro cloth,” a coarse wool-cotton material made especially for enslaved blacks in the American South.
Clark-Pujara draws on the documents of the state, the business, organizational, and personal records of their enslavers, and the few first-hand accounts left by enslaved and free black Rhode Islanders to reconstruct their lived experiences. The business of slavery encouraged slaveholding, slowed emancipation and led to circumscribed black freedom. Enslaved and free black people pushed back against their bondage and the restrictions placed on their freedom. It is convenient, especially for northerners, to think of slavery as southern institution. The erasure or marginalization of the northern black experience and the centrality of the business of slavery to the northern economy allows for a dangerous fiction―that North has no history of racism to overcome. But we cannot afford such a delusion if we are to truly reconcile with our past.
224 pages, Paperback
Published March 6, 2018
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177 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 17, 2019
Great history of slavery in Rhode Island. But more than that, I think the author does a great job illuminating the slavery's far reaching tentacles, from slave trading, to producing goods to be exported to slave societies in the Caribbean and the Deep South. By the time RI abolishes slavery, their vested interests in slavery enable them to continue profiting from it. Slavery was a national business and a national institution.
Additionally, the author's attention to detail re: enslaved and then free black people's efforts to make a way for themselves in the world (securing their freedom, making freedom real, creating their own institutions) and the challenges they face, including mob violence, can help readers understand the longer, wider freedom struggles of African Americans.
Additionally, the author's attention to detail re: enslaved and then free black people's efforts to make a way for themselves in the world (securing their freedom, making freedom real, creating their own institutions) and the challenges they face, including mob violence, can help readers understand the longer, wider freedom struggles of African Americans.
April 16, 2019
A Must Read
I have lived in RI all of my life. This book was incredibly eye-opening for me. It should be must reading for not just all Rhode Islanders, but anyone who considers themselves a student of U. S. history and an informed citizen of this country. My understanding of the history of my state and country were greatly enhanced, and I am grateful to Ms. Clark-Punta for putting it all down in such concise and resonant prose. We all need to understand that slavery was not confined to the South, and that in fact the economy North and South was built upon the business of slavery.
I have lived in RI all of my life. This book was incredibly eye-opening for me. It should be must reading for not just all Rhode Islanders, but anyone who considers themselves a student of U. S. history and an informed citizen of this country. My understanding of the history of my state and country were greatly enhanced, and I am grateful to Ms. Clark-Punta for putting it all down in such concise and resonant prose. We all need to understand that slavery was not confined to the South, and that in fact the economy North and South was built upon the business of slavery.
January 19, 2021
I was born and raised in Rhode Island and knew there was a vague slave history. Never did I think that it was as deep and intricate as this book articulated. I was riveted and disgusted at the magnitude of the slave trade in my small little state. This book should be a mandatory part of all public education in our state.
September 1, 2019
This text is an excellent look into how slavery supported the economy of the Northern states in US, not just the south. As someone who grew up in the north and never got this nuanced look at history, it's a great way to continue to be educated about how we are where we are.
July 19, 2019
Well researched andhighly readable.
February 27, 2021
This book is essential in understanding the origin and legacy of slavery in Rhode Island.
January 13, 2022
I started this book before the pandemic but returned it to the library shortly after the start. It always nagged me I didn't get to finish it, and I'm certainly glad I finally did.
The devil, as they say, is in the details. I'd known some about Newport's dependence on the triangle trade but I had never heard of the "negro cloth" manufactured in RI mills that was used to clothe southern plantations, or how widespread slave use was in South County, or etc., etc. etc. When one considers how fully entrenched the slavery business was in America's economy it's a wonder it ever ended at all, no matter how begrudgingly.
One term the author uses that I particularly like is "enslaved Rhode Islanders." It's a little thing, and I find it hard to express why I found it so poignant.
Things are not completely dour; there's the creation of the first black mutual aid society and the first black-funded school supervised and administrated by black Americans, as well as patriotic service, and fests, and other attempts at agency and self-respect in the face of a world of indifference and outright oppression.
The book can get pretty repetitious, and there are some generalizations and unclear leaps in logic. But I found it incredibly engrossing. Depressing, but eye opening and fascinating. Truly a book that changed my understanding of things.
The devil, as they say, is in the details. I'd known some about Newport's dependence on the triangle trade but I had never heard of the "negro cloth" manufactured in RI mills that was used to clothe southern plantations, or how widespread slave use was in South County, or etc., etc. etc. When one considers how fully entrenched the slavery business was in America's economy it's a wonder it ever ended at all, no matter how begrudgingly.
One term the author uses that I particularly like is "enslaved Rhode Islanders." It's a little thing, and I find it hard to express why I found it so poignant.
Things are not completely dour; there's the creation of the first black mutual aid society and the first black-funded school supervised and administrated by black Americans, as well as patriotic service, and fests, and other attempts at agency and self-respect in the face of a world of indifference and outright oppression.
The book can get pretty repetitious, and there are some generalizations and unclear leaps in logic. But I found it incredibly engrossing. Depressing, but eye opening and fascinating. Truly a book that changed my understanding of things.
January 30, 2024
A very good short history of slavery in Rhode Island, showing how the common narrative that the state was always a bastion of tolerance is the opposite of reality. Linking the genocide of the Indigenous people of the region to the failure of the colonists to understand how to live on the land and the subsequent practice of first Indigenous and then Black slavery, this text demonstrates that slavery was an integral part of Rhode Island's economy up until the Civil War.
May 14, 2024
The economic history of Rhode Island slavery which Pujara promises in both the title and the introduction to explore gets only a couple mentions in each chapter. If she wanted to write a comprehensive history of slavery in Rhode Island, she should have just set out to do that. It’s a valuable and well researched contribution to the study of Rhode Island history, but it fails at its stated purpose.
December 4, 2024
One of the best books on slavery in the north that I’ve read in research for an upcoming project. Great balance between larger takeaways and specific stories of individuals which can be hard with these kind of sources. Touched on production of clothing and illicit gatherings amongst free and enslaved Black peoples that I’ve never seen in discussions of northern slavery. Also just super readable!
September 23, 2019
Well-researched and well-presented, this is history that deserves our time.
August 6, 2024
This book was so sad. I had to keep putting it down because it was too heavy to read at times. Can’t believe the absolute cruelty and inhumanity of this time in our history.
October 3, 2025
Very interesting history of slavery in RI, most of which I did not know. Shows that RI treated blacks (not just slaves) no better than the South did, up to the Civil War and beyond.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews