On Woodson, see Jacqueline Goggin, Carter G. Woodson: A Life in Black History (LSU Press, 1993). The book discusses the genesis of several studies Woodson conducted based on census data, but not much directly on this point. Luther Porter Jackson's book on black property holding and labor in Virginia discusses the phenomenon to some extent. Analysis of the motivation for black slaveholding needs to account for the vagaries of geography and law. The white-black dichotomy doesn't properly convey the legal (let alone cultural) situation in regard to racial classification in Louisiana, so I'm not sure who a "black" slaveholder would be there. I assume studies of that state must be more specific on that point. Likewise, look at the situation in antebellum Virginia. Newly-freed slaves were required by law to leave the state unless they successfully petition to remain, and free blacks could be (and were) resold for terms of labor if they were arrested without their free papers. In such a situation, it doesn't seem surprising that ownership by friends and family members might be a better strategy to keep people together. Since the statistical evidence is largely based in the census or tax lists, I'm not sure how much one can generalize about motitvations anyway. A question. Didn't the Va legislature outlaw the holding of slaves by free blacks other than family members in the late antebellum period? I seem to recall such a law. Gregg Gregg D. Kimball Director of Publications and Educational Services Library of Virginia 804/692-3722 [log in to unmask] -----Original Message----- From: Anne Pemberton [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 2:50 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: black master A good website for Carter G. Woodson is at: http://www.chipublib.org/002branches/woodson/woodsonbib.html It lists another book by Woodson specifically on the subject of black masters published in 1924. FREE NEGRO OWNERS OF SLAVES IN THE UNITED STATES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1830: TOGETHER WITH ABSENTEE OWNERSHIP OF SLAVES IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1830, ed. Washington: ASNLH., 1924; Repr. Negro Univ. Press. E185.W8873 A less balanced view of the man is on http://www.ritesofpassage.org/h_woodson.htm ... Anne At 01:54 PM 2/27/03 -0500, you wrote: > In 1860, there were at least six black slaveholders in >Louisiana who owned 65 or more slaves. The largest was Clara Richards >who owned 152 slaves that worked her sugar plantation. The second >largest black slaveowner was Antoine Dubuclet, another sugar planter, who owned over 100 slaves and who >had an estate of $264,000 in 1861. There were slaveholders with equal >numbers of slaves in South Carolina, Maryland, and Georgia. > > One book that discusses black slaveowners is The Negro in Our >History >(1922) by Carter G. Woodson. He was a professor of history at UVA for a >number of years and is considered the father of black history in the US. Dr. >Woodson argued that black slaveholders were predominantly freed slaves who >bought their relatives and held them as slaves as a means of giving them >their freedom. This view is largely disregarded these days due to all the >records that have been found of black slaveholders buying and selling slaves >for profit just like white slaveholders, and conveying their slaves upon >their deaths along with the other property in their estates. > >JDS > > > > > > > > > >To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the >instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html Anne Pemberton [log in to unmask] http://www.erols.com/stevepem http://www.educationalsynthesis.org To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html