Unrequited Toil: A History of United States Slavery

Book cover of Unrequited Toil: A History of United States Slavery by Calvin Schermerhornby Calvin Schermerhorn
@CalScherm

Written as a narrative history of slavery within the United States, Unrequited Toil details how an institution that seemed to be disappearing at the end of the American Revolution rose to become the most contested and valuable economic interest in the nation by 1850. Calvin Schermerhorn charts changes in the family lives of enslaved Americans, exploring the broader processes of nation-building in the United States, growth and intensification of national and international markets, the institutionalization of chattel slavery, and the growing relevance of race in the politics and society of the republic.

  In chapters organized chronologically, Schermerhorn argues that American economic development relied upon African Americans’ social reproduction while simultaneously destroying their intergenerational cultural continuity. He explores the personal narratives of enslaved people and develops themes such as politics, economics, labor, literature, rebellion, and social conditions.
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Interview with the Author

Podcast art for The Age of JacksonThe Age of Jackson Podcast 
053 United States Slavery in the Age of Jackson with Calvin Schermerhorn
11/30/18         79 min

Podcast Art for the New Book NetworkNew Books Network 
Calvin Schermerhorn, “Unrequited Toil: A History of the United States Slavery” (Cambridge UP, 2018)
1/24/19          56 min

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