Reading through the slave narratives is what Eugene Genovese did in the
1960s and 1970s when he researched and wrote "Roll, Jordan, Roll" and
developed his theory of plantation paternalism, a theory which has dominated
academic discussion of slavery ever since.  Genovese helped overturn Kenneth
Stampp's view of plantations as brutal work camps; in his time Stampp had
overturned U.B. Phillips's "Gone With The Wind" view of plantations. 
Today's scholars seem to be edging away from Genovese's paternalism theory
into a kind of Venn diagram view of slave agency within/clashing with master
hegemony.  In my own work, I try to stay away from over-arching theories and
look at the microcosm.  Right now, having done a book on George Washington
and slavery, I'm working on Jefferson and his slaves.  It is fascinating to
see how Mount Vernon and Monticello, both run by presidents and so close in
time, place, and size, were nonetheless so different from each other.  

Henry Wiencek

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