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More than Chains and Toil: A Christian Work Ethic of Enslaved Women

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Joan Martin's More Than Chains And Toil provides a study of Christian work ethic and enslaved black women, analyzing work in the experience of black women and analyzing the meanings women attributed to their work. A fine guide examines notions of work, 'calling', and social conditions and issues of the times.

The Reverend Dr. Joan M. Martin has produced a fantastic volume on the roles,lives, and philosophies of life of the Africa-American slave woman during the period of slavery in the United States and later. Dr. Martin, a Presbyterian Minister, describes and dissects how the Christian Religion of the slaveowner was used (and abused) by him to control his slaves, but also demonstrates how the slave women (and men) found in the same Christianity the key to their survival. The book's many Notes enables the interested reader to follow paths suggested by the text. Dr. Martin also supplies a very fine Bibliography. This book is not only of great interest to the individual reader, but should be considered as a text by Anthropology, Sociology, and Black Studies Dpartments as well.