From John Hope Franklin, America's foremost African American historian, comes this groundbreaking analysis of slave resistance and escape. A sweeping panorama of plantation life before the Civil War, this book reveals that slaves frequently rebelled against their masters and ran away from their plantations whenever they could. For generations, important aspects about slave life on the plantations of the American South have remained shrouded. Historians thought, for instance, that slaves were generally pliant and resigned to their roles as human chattel, and that racial violence on the plantation was an aberration. In this precedent setting book, John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger demonstrate that, contrary to popular belief, significant numbers of slaves did in fact frequently rebel against their masters and struggled to attain their freedom. By surveying a wealth of documents, such as planters' records, petitions to county courts and state legislatures, and local newspapers, this book shows how slaves resisted, when, where, and how they escaped, where they fled to, how long they remained in hiding, and how they survived away from the plantation. Of equal importance, it examines the reactions of the white slaveholding class, revealing how they marshaled considerable effort to prevent runaways, meted out severe punishments, and established patrols to hunt down escaped slaves. Reflecting a lifetime of thought by our leading authority in African American history, this book provides the key to truly understanding the relationship between slaveholders and the runaways who challenged the system--illuminating as never before the true nature of the South's "most peculiar institution."
Runaway Slaves: Rebels on the Plantation
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Runaway Slaves is yet another masterpiece from the esteemed African American historian John Hope Franklin, author of the influential From Slavery to Freedom. Along with history professor Loren Schweninger, Franklin examines the often unexplored phenomenon of slave resistance--specifically, that of runaway slaves. For too long, there has been a myth that slaves were happy with their condition. Armed with the data from numerous Wanted posters, letters, county-court petitions, and newspapers, Franklin and Schweninger prove that slaves were in a constant state of rebellion with their masters. The intense circle of violence between blacks and whites was marked by property sabotage, work stoppage, assault, murder, and escape into the North. "Perhaps the greatest impact runaways had on the peculiar institution," the authors suggest, "was in their defiance of the system. Masters and slaves knew that there were blacks who were willing to do almost anything to extricate themselves from bondage." Comprehensive in scholarship and compelling in prose, this book sheds light on an underappreciated aspect of the American quest for freedom. --Eugene Holley Jr.
From Library Journal
Franklin (history, emeritus, Duke Univ.) and Schweninger (history, Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro) have written an exhaustive account of slaves who escaped during the antebellum period. Organized topically, this scrupulously detailed work is based primarily on advertisements for runaways and records of court cases involving escaped slaves. While the book is longer on description than analysis, the authors do agree on one theme: that the substantial number of runaways makes it clear that slaves were hardly content with their condition. Because of its careful, sometimes overwhelming detail, this work can serve as both a reference book and a monograph.AA.O. Edmonds, Ball State Univ., Muncie, IN
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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First Sentence
ON 17 AUGUST 1840, the day of a great Whig political convention in Nashville, Tennessee, Jake, a slave owned by an old and respected farmer, Robert Bradford, refused to go to work. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
ON 17 AUGUST 1840, the day of a great Whig political convention in Nashville, Tennessee, Jake, a slave owned by an old and respected farmer, Robert Bradford, refused to go to work. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
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Format:Paperback
This book was interesting though rather hard to read, sort of like a text book. Sometimes there were interesting stories about people, and then you didn't hear what happened to them in the end. I think you can learn about fugitive slaves easier from other books like I WAS BORN A SLAVE. Also, I liked THE JOURNAL OF LEROY JEREMIAH JONES, A FUGITIVE SLAVE and THE DIARY OF A SLAVE GIRL, RUBY JO.
Format:Paperback
Much research went into the writing of this book and the conclusions drawn from that research are interesting. I much enjoyed the book and can see where it would be a good source for further research into the subject. The authors were also kind enough to include a large section regarding their source material. However, I can't exactly say that the writing was of a style that would keep one awake for long periods of time. If you are looking for just entertainment value, look elsewhere.
Format:Paperback
Six score and 16 years after the end of the Civil War has not dimmed many of the controversies surrounding the events leading up to that epic struggle.
In "Runaway Slaves," John Hope Franklin and Loren Schweninger attempt to counter one of the more insidious images: that slaves working under the plantation system were generally happy, with instances of rebellion few and far between. By quoting from contemporary records -- everything from letters and diaries to newspapers, handbills and petitions to county courts and state legislatures -- Franklin and Schweninger want to show that slaves rebelled against their masters in a number of ways.
The scope of rebellion is breathtakingly wide, ranging from a sort of civil disobedience -- complaining, refusing to work, hiding from the overseers, destroying or stealing property, mistreating the animals, to the more serious offenses such as running away, formenting rebellion or murder. Any slaves was capable of running off, from known troublemakers to the most trusted house servants. Even hired slaves, those who had earned their master's trust and were allowed to accept work in the cities and generally left alone, would run away.
"Runaway Slaves" spends several hundred pages detailing the various forms of rebellion, and that is the book's greatest strength and weakness. The sheer volume and range of these acts makes it clear what the white overlords were up again, and explains some of the extreme methods used to keep the blacks down.
But the book also doesn't give an indication of the extent of black rebellion, and thus it offers a case no more convincing than whites to point out the few blacks who fought for the Confederacy. It would have been far more effective to look at a particular county over a year and examine what went on there during that time. By cross-referencing diaries, newspapers, memoirs and other accounts, it may be possible to discover just how deep resistance to whites ran.
But for those looking for details of who ran, why, and how they were captured and punished, "Runaway Slaves" offers a wealth of details and a few choice insights.
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3.8 out of 5 stars
Most recent customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lays bare the frail foundation of the antebellum South
The contents of this book (covering the period from 1790 to 1860) provide a convincing argument for why the prosperous citizens of southern states felt compelled to fight a war for... Read more
Published on May 10 2000 by Dr. Robert C.A. Goff, MCSD, MCSE, MCDBA
5.0 out of 5 stars
A seminal work
An excellent work in which the authors look intensely at one aspect of a subject (runaways) to throw light on the whole (i.e., slavery and how terrible it actually was). Read more
Published on Dec 29 1999 by Cliff Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars
FASCINATING MATERIAL - A MUST READ
Unlike most accounts of those days told strictly by either verbal or written reminisce, Runaway slaves takes the tact of telling the story of the runaway through newspaper ads,... Read more
Published on Aug 4 1999
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