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Unfreedom: Slavery and Dependence in Eighteenth-Century Boston
Contributor(s): Hardesty, Jared Ross (Author)

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ISBN: 1479801844     ISBN-13: 9781479801848
Publisher: New York University Press
OUR PRICE: $25.65  

Binding Type: Paperback - See All Available Formats & Editions
Published: March 2018
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Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States - Revolutionary Period (1775-1800)
- Social Science | Slavery
- History | Military - General
Dewey: 306.362
Series: Early American Places
Physical Information: 0.7" H x 6" W x 9" L (0.80 lbs) 272 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 18th Century
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Publisher Description:

Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 2016

Reveals the lived experience of slaves in eighteenth-century Boston

Instead of relying on the traditional dichotomy of slavery and freedom, Hardesty argues we should understand slavery in Boston as part of a continuum of unfreedom. In this context, African slavery existed alongside many other forms of oppression, including Native American slavery, indentured servitude, apprenticeship, and pauper apprenticeship. In this hierarchical and inherently unfree world, enslaved Bostonians were more concerned with their everyday treatment and honor than with emancipation, as they pushed for autonomy, protected their families and communities, and demanded a place in society.

Drawing on exhaustive research in colonial legal records - including wills, court documents, and minutes of governmental bodies - as well as newspapers, church records, and other contemporaneous sources, Hardesty masterfully reconstructs an eighteenth-century Atlantic world of unfreedom that stretched from Europe to Africa to America. By reassessing the lives of enslaved Bostonians as part of a social order structured by ties of dependence, Hardesty not only demonstrates how African slaves were able to decode their new homeland and shape the terms of their enslavement, but also tells the story of how marginalized peoples engrained themselves in the very fabric of colonial American society.


Contributor Bio(s): Hardesty, Jared Ross: - Jared Ross Hardesty is Associate Professor of History at Western Washington University.
 
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