Unfreedom : slavery and dependence in eighteenth-century Boston /
Jared Ross Hardesty.
- New York : New York University Press, (c)2016.
- 1 online resource (225 pages)
- Early American places .
Includes bibliographies and index.
Introduction: a world of unfreedom -- Origins -- Deference and dependence -- Social worlds -- Laboring lives -- Appropriating institutions -- Afterword: the fall of the house of unfreedom.
"In Unfreedom, Jared Ross Hardesty examines the lived experience of slaves in eighteenth-century Boston. Instead of relying on the traditional dichotomy of slavery and freedom, Hardesty argues we should understand slavery in Boston as part of a continuum of unfreedom. In this context, African slavery existed alongside many other forms of oppression, including Native American slavery, indentured servitude, apprenticeship, and pauper apprenticeship. In this hierarchical and inherently unfree world, enslaved Bostonians were more concerned with their everyday treatment and honor than with emancipation, as they pushed for autonomy, protected their families and communities, and demanded a place in society. Drawing on exhaustive research in colonial legal records --