Stolen Childhood: Slave Youth in Nineteenth-Century America (Blacks in the Diaspora) (Paperback)

by Wilma King (Author) "If childhood was a special time for enslaved children, it was because their parents made it so..." (more)
Key Phrases: enslaved youngsters, enslaved parents, enslaved children, South Carolina, Frederick Douglass, North Carolina (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
King, a historian at Michigan State University, has researched the lives of children growing up in slavery during the last century. Her sources include personal papers and U.S. government interviews with former slaves, all compiled in the 1930s. Children saw the carefree joys of their younger days fade as the grim boundaries of their lives became apparent. The humiliation and punishment of slaves was often inflicted publicly--a father whipped in front of his son as a salutary lesson to both the boy and the man. Parents could be sold off, losing all contact with their children. King relates how the songs and games of the children came to incorporate this harsh reality. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
Marking the milestones and millstones of the youthful years of enslaved blacks' lives on U.S. plantations in the 1800s, King (history, Michigan State Univ.) traces how those born into slavery grew old almost instantly, before their time, suffering atrocities akin to those of war-ravaged populations. She examines family, work, play, religion, punishment, and escape in a pioneering survey to assess our understanding of slavery from the experiences and perspectives of those under 21 years of age. As Deborah Gray White did in Ar'n't I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South (LJ 11/15/85), King has here remapped old and familiar terrain to lay out promising directions for fresh inquiry. Highly recommended for collections on 19th-century U.S. history, children, slavery, and blacks.?Thomas J. Davis, SUNY at Buffalo
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253211867
• ISBN-13: 978-0253211866
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: No customer reviews yet. Be the first.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #772,334 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)