Power to Die

Slavery and Suicide in British North America

Häftad, Engelska, 2026

336 kr

Kommande

Beskrivning

The history of slavery in early America is a history of suicide. On ships crossing the Atlantic, enslaved men and women refused to eat or leaped into the ocean. They strangled or hanged themselves. They tore open their own throats. In America, they jumped into rivers or out of windows, or even ran into burning buildings. Faced with the reality of enslavement, countless Africans chose death instead.In The Power to Die, Terri L. Snyder excavates the history of slave suicide, returning it to its central place in early American history. How did people—traders, plantation owners, and, most importantly, enslaved men and women themselves—view and understand these deaths, and how did they affect understandings of the institution of slavery then and now? Snyder draws on ships’ logs, surgeons' journals, judicial and legislative records, newspaper accounts, abolitionist propaganda and slave narratives, and many other sources to build a grim picture of slavery’s toll and detail the ways in which suicide exposed the contradictions of slavery, serving as a powerful indictment that resonated throughout the Anglo-Atlantic world and continues to speak to historians today.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2026-09-05
Mått:152 x 229 x 23 mm
Vikt:454 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:256
Förlag:The University of Chicago Press
ISBN:9780226854571

Utforska kategorier

Amerikas historia inom Historia och arkeologi
Slaveri inom Historia och arkeologi

Mer om författaren

Terri L. Snyder is professor of American studies at California State University, Fullerton, and the author of Brabbling Women: Disorderly Speech and the Law in Early Virginia. She lives in Pasadena.

Recensioner i media

“Snyder attends to her subject with great intelligence, care, and sensitivity. Drawing together an impressive variety of sources, she probes the connection between the public interest in slavery and the forbidden private will of the enslaved. This excellent study of mortuary politics confirms that the power to die can be as historically consequential as the power to hold, punish, and kill.”

Innehållsförteckning

List of FiguresAcknowledgmentsPrologue / Anna’s LeapIntroduction / The Problem of Suicide in North American SlaveryOne / Suicide and the Transatlantic Slave TradeTwo / Suicide and Seasoning in British American PlantationsThree / Slave Suicide in the Context of Colonial North AmericaFour / The Power to Die or the Power of the State? The Legalities of Suicide in SlaveryFive / The Paradoxes of Suicide and Slavery in PrintSix / The Meaning of Suicide in Antislavery Politics Epilogue / Suicide, Slavery, and Memory in American CultureStudying Slave Suicide: An Essay on SourcesAbbreviationsNotesSelect Bibliography of Primary SourcesIndex