Slave against Slave – Plantation Violence in the Old South Forret Hardback

Slave Against SlavePlantation Violence in the Old South\nAuthor(s): Jeff Forret\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Louisiana State University Press, United States\nImprint: Louisiana State University Press\nISBN-13: 9780807161111, 978-0807161111\nSynopsis\nIn the first-ever comprehensive analysis of violence between slaves in the antebellum South, Jeff Forret challenges persistent notions of slave communities as sites of unwavering harmony and solidarity. Though existing scholarship shows that intraracial black violence did not reach high levels until after Reconstruction, contemporary records bear witness to its regular presence among enslaved populations. Slave against Slave explores the roots of and motivations for such violence and the ways in which slaves, masters, churches, and civil and criminal laws worked to hold it in check. Far from focusing on violence alone, Forret's work also adds depth to our understanding of morality among the enslaved, revealing how slaves sought to preve.