Abstract
The field of history is constantly in flux as academics re-examine questions and conclusions from the past through contemporary perspectives. This establishes a dynamic dialogue between past historical interpretations and current ideas, allowing analysis to provide a foundation to build new theories and explanations. Ira Berlin’s work on American chattel slavery has proven to be one such building block. Before Berlin's work, historians often generalized slavery across the colonies and throughout history using Virginia's large tobacco or cotton plantations as a model. However, these plantations were a later development in North America, and focusing exclusively on that model inaccurately portrayed slavery as unchanging. Berlin’s pioneering work proposed an analytical approach centered on the evolving slave labor systems in British North America. His theory takes into account the ways geography in the colonies shaped crop choices, and how those choices facilitated an evolution over time from a “society with slaves” to a “slave society.” The following paper will illustrate how Berlin’s insightful analysis inspired other historians, such as Jennifer L. Morgan and Andrés Resendez, to expand his theory to include traditionally marginalized groups.
Recommended Citation
Kreeger, Corinne
(2024)
"Writing Black Women and Native Americans Back into the Slavery Narrative,"
Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science: Vol. 12
:
Iss.
1
, Article 9.
https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/themis/vol12/iss1/9
