Work

“This Slavery Business Is a Horrible Thing”: The Economy of American Slavery in the Lives of the Enslaved

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: This article examines the business of American slavery from the perspective of enslaved people. It draws from narratives of enslaved fugitivity and interviews with the formerly enslaved to interrogate how they understood the business imperatives of slavery in the antebellum American South. It argues that enslaved peoples’ economic knowledge was cultivated through the violence inherent in the business of slavery, from their ideas about banking to their understanding of entrepreneurialism. Building on the current literature on capitalism and slavery, this article shows that slavery's brutality shaped enslaved peoples’ knowledge of commerce in nineteenth-century America.

Source: The Business History Review

DOI: 10.1017/s000768052300034x

Author: Justene Hill Edwards

Institution: University of Virginia

Language: English

Topic: Colonialism, slavery, and trade

Subfield: Anthropology

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,255