| Popis: |
This chapter offers an overview of slavery in the Shenandoah Valley from the moment the first enslaved people reportedly arrived in 1727. Slavery’s importance steadily increased in the region from the era of the American Revolution, spurred in part by demand for hemp during the American Revolution, through the 1850s. Furthermore, chapter one examines the practice of enslavers renting surplus labor, various forms of resistance enslaved people employed in the Shenandoah Valley in the decades leading up to the Civil War, how enslavers attempted to subdue that resistance, and how enslaved people who escaped to points north carved out a new life for themselves. Examinations of these various elements reveals that although slavery might have superficially looked somewhat different in the Shenandoah Valley—enslavers working alongside those whom they enslaved or enslaved people not comprising as much of the total population as in areas where large plantations dominated the landscape—the experiences of enslaved people on an individual level did not differ at all from other areas. The Valley’s enslaved still suffered abuse, both physical and emotional, and desired freedom. |
