Swing the Sickle for the Harvest Is Ripe

by Berry, Daina Ramey

• ISBN13: 9780252077586
• ISBN10: 025207758X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-07-01
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

This book compares the work, family, and economic experiences of enslaved women and men in upcountry and lowland Georgia during the nineteenth century. Mining planters' daybooks, plantation records, and a wealth of other sources, Daina Ramey Berry shows how slaves' experiences on large self-contained plantations contrasted with those on small plantations, where planters allowed slaves more open, fluid communications. Berry invites readers into slaves' internal lives through her detailed examination of domestic violence, separation and sale, and forced breeding.

Author Biography

 

Daina Ramey Berry is an associate professor of history at Michigan State University.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
ôI Had to Work Hard, Plow, and Go and Split Wood Jus' Like a Manö: Skill, Gender, and Productivity in Agricultural Settings	p. 13
ôDey S'lected Me Out to Be a Housegirlö: The Privileges and Pain of Nonagricultural Labor	p. 35
ôThere Sho' Was a Sight of Usö: Enslaved Family and Community Rituals	p. 52
ôO, I Never Has Forgot Dat Last Dinner wit My Folksö: Enslaved Family and Community Realities	p. 76
ôFor the Current Yearö: The Informal Economy and Slave Hiring	p. 104
Epilogue: The Aftermath of Slavery	p. 129
	p. 135
	p. 138
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