White Cargo : The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America

by Jordan, Don

• ISBN13: 9780814742969
• ISBN10: 0814742963
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-03-08
• Publisher: New York Univ Pr

Summary

?With information gleaned from contemporary letters, journals and court archives, White Cargo is packed with proof that the brutalities usually associated with black slavery were, for centuries, also inflicted on whites.? --Daily Mail ?An eye-opening and heart-rending story.? --The Times (London) White Cargo is the forgotten story of the thousands of Britons who lived and died in bondage in Britain?s American colonies. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, more than 300,000 white people were shipped to America as slaves. Urchins were swept up from London?s streets to labor in the tobacco fields, where life expectancy was no more than two years. Brothels were raided to provide ?breeders? for Virginia. Hopeful migrants were duped into signing as indentured servants, unaware they would become personal property who could be bought, sold, and even gambled away. Transported convicts were paraded for sale like livestock. Drawing on letters crying for help, diaries, and court and government archives, Don Jordan and Michael Walsh demonstrate that the brutalities usually associated with black slavery alone were perpetrated on whites throughout British rule. The trade ended with American independence, but the British still tried to sell convicts in their former colonies, which prompted one of the most audacious plots in Anglo-American history. This is a saga of exploration and cruelty spanning 170 years that has been submerged under the overwhelming memory of black slavery. White Cargo brings the brutal, uncomfortable story to the surface.

Author Biography

Don Jordan is an award-winning television director and writer who has worked on dozens of documentaries and dramas Michael Walsh is now a producer and writer living in London, specializing in political and historical documentaries

Table of Contents

Introduction: In the Shadow of the Myth	p. 11
A Place for the Unwanted	p. 21
The Judge's Dream	p. 33
The Merchant Prince	p. 47
Children of the City	p. 75
The Jagged Edge	p. 89
'They are not Dogs'	p. 99
The People Trade	p. 113
Spirited Away	p. 127
Foreigners in Their Own Land	p. 137
Dissent in the North	p. 155
The Planter from Angola	p. 169
'Barbadosed'	p. 177
The Grandees	p. 193
Bacon's Rebellion	p. 205
Queen Anne's Golden Book	p. 213
Disunity in the Union	p. 227
Lost and Found	p. 233
'His Majesty's Seven-Year Passengers'	p. 247
The Last Hurrah	p. 271
Notes	p. 283
Select Bibliography	p. 301
Index	p. 313
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