There are countless Slavery courses, tutorials, articles available online, but for some, having a book is still a necessity to learn. This is an up-to-date list of recommended books.
- Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II (2009)
- Slavery: A World History (1993)
- Sexuality and Slavery: Reclaiming Intimate Histories in the Americas (Gender and Slavery Ser.) (2018)
- American Slavery: 1619-1877 (10th Anniversary Edition) (2003)
- Slavery at Sea: Terror, Sex, and Sickness in the Middle Passage (New Black Studies Series) (2016)
- The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism (2016)
- Up from Slavery: An Autobiography (2010)
- American Slavery, American Freedom (2003)
- Up From Slavery (2018)
- Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory (2008)
- Slavery’s Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification (2010)
Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II (2009)
In this groundbreaking historical expose, Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history—an “Age of Neoslavery” that thrived from the aftermath of the Civil War through the dawn of World War II.Using a vast record of original documents and personal narratives, Douglas A.
Slavery: A World History (1993)
Slavery is not and has never been a “peculiar institution,” but one that is deeply rooted in the history and economy of most countries.
Sexuality and Slavery: Reclaiming Intimate Histories in the Americas (Gender and Slavery Ser.) (2018)
In this groundbreaking collection, editors Daina Ramey Berry and Leslie M. Harris place sexuality at the center of slavery studies in the Americas (the United States, the Caribbean, and South America).
American Slavery: 1619-1877 (10th Anniversary Edition) (2003)
In terms of accessibility and comprehensive coverage, Kolchin’s American Slavery is a singularly important achievement. Now updated to address a decade of new scholarship, the book includes a new preface, afterword, and revised and expanded bibliographic essay. It remains the best book to introduce a subject of profound and lasting importance, one that lies at the center of American history.
Slavery at Sea: Terror, Sex, and Sickness in the Middle Passage (New Black Studies Series) (2016)
Most times left solely within the confine of plantation narratives, slavery was far from a land-based phenomenon. This book reveals for the first time how it took critical shape at sea. Expanding the gaze even more widely, the book centers on how the oceanic transport of human cargoes–known as the infamous Middle Passage–comprised a violently regulated process foundational to the institution of bondage.
The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism (2016)
Americans tend to cast slavery as a pre-modern institution — the nation’s original sin, perhaps, but isolated in time and divorced from America’s later success. But to do so robs the millions who suffered in bondage of their full legacy. As historian Edward E.
Up from Slavery: An Autobiography (2010)
Booker T. Washington recalled his childhood in his autobiography, Up From Slavery. He was born in 1856 on the Burroughs tobacco farm which, despite its small size, he always referred to as a “plantation.” His mother was a cook, his father a white man from a nearby farm.
American Slavery, American Freedom (2003)
“Thoughtful, suggestive and highly readable.”―New York Times Book Review In the American Revolution, Virginians were the most eloquent spokesmen for freedom and quality. George Washington led the Americans in battle against British oppression. Thomas Jefferson led them in declaring independence.
Up From Slavery (2018)
Up from Slavery is the 1901 autobiography of Booker T.
Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory (2008)
America’s slave past is being analyzed as never before, yet it remains one of the most contentious issues in U.S. memory. In recent years, the culture wars over the way that slavery is remembered and taught have reached a new crescendo.
Slavery’s Constitution: From Revolution to Ratification (2010)
Taking on decades of received wisdom, David Waldstreicher has written the first book to recognize slavery’s place at the heart of the U.S. Constitution. Famously, the Constitution never mentions slavery. And yet, of its eighty-four clauses, six were directly concerned with slaves and the interests of their owners.
Best Slavery Books You Should Read
We highly recommend you to buy all paper or e-books in a legal way, for example, on Amazon. But sometimes it might be a need to dig deeper beyond the shiny book cover. Before making a purchase, you can visit resources like Library Genesis and download some slavery books mentioned below at your own risk. Once again, we do not host any illegal or copyrighted files, but simply give our visitors a choice and hope they will make a wise decision.
Mastered by the Clock: Time, Slavery, and Freedom in the American South /
Author(s): Mark M. Smith.
ID: 3008442, Publisher: University of North Carolina Press,, Year: c1997., Size: 3 Mb, Format: pdf
Remembering Slavery: African Americans Talk About Their Personal Experiences of Slavery and Emancipation
Author(s): Ira Berlin, Marc Favreau, Steven F. Miller
ID: 2381792, Publisher: The New Press, Year: 26 July 2011, Size: 5 Mb, Format: epub
American Inheritance: Liberty and Slavery in the Birth of a Nation, 1765-1795
Author(s): Edward J. Larson
ID: 3610535, Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, Year: 2023, Size: 11 Mb, Format: epub
Please note that this booklist is not errorless. Some books are truly best-sellers according to Los Angeles Times, others are composed by unknown authors. On top of that, you can always find additional tutorials and courses on Coursera, Udemy or edX, for example. Are there any other relevant books you could recommend? Drop a comment if you have any feedback on the list.