Customer Reviews

Slavery in North Carolina, 1748-1775

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This is primarily a book for historians. Although the book has its moments, it mostly focuses on the historiography of slavery in North Carolina during the period from 1748 to 1775. The authors discuss the origins of North Carolina slaves, treatment of slaves, slave naming practices, slave culture, and the ideology of slavery as North Carolina approached the American Revolution. A fault of the book is that the analysis stops mostly at 1775, cutting off the picture of how the American Revolution transformed the slave institutions of the state. The book is well written; anyone who needs information on the nature and character of slavery during the period will find this to be an authoritative source. Most armchair historians will probably be disappointed that this study is not a narrative; yet, there are many wonderful insights on the nature of slavery in North Carolina for the interested reader.

While this book offers an objective, historical look at slavery, it is useful primarily only to those wanting to study slavery in this specific American state and twenty-seven year time period. While I enjoyed this book from a historical perspective as a guide for creative writing, it would've been much more useful to me and most other readers if it covered a longer time period and a larger region, such as the entire 17th, 18th, and/or 19th centuries for the states of VA, NC, SC, and GA, or if a series for this extended time period with each state as a separate book were available. As it is, the book is a valuable historical asset for those that want to learn about all aspects of slavery from 1748-1775 in the state of North Carolina.