Slate History

9: How Did American Slavery End?

This episode was originally released in 2015.In Episode 9, the finale episode of the History of American Slavery, hosts Rebecca Onion and Jamelle Bouie discuss emancipation. They examine how emancipation was more a process than an overnight change, and they compare the different ways it was enacted in the South and throughout the United States. They also discuss how people sought to rebuild their lives and reunite their families once they had achieved freedom from slavery. They begin the episode by remembering the life of Rose Herera (1835–unknown).See this episode's complete show notes.This series was made possible by Slate Plus members. To support more work like this at Slate, sign up for Slate Plus now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

8: Runaway Railroad

This episode was originally released in 2015.In Episode 8 of the History of American Slavery, hosts Rebecca Onion and Jamelle Bouie discuss the small minority of people who escaped slavery during the 1850s and 1860s and the people who helped them along the way. They examine our evolving and sometimes selective historical memory of the Underground Railroad. They also explore the legal environment that confronted fugitives and their helpers and how it changed after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Jamelle and Rebecca begin the episode by looking at the life of John Parker (1827–1900).See this episode's complete show notes.This series was made possible by Slate Plus members. To support more work like this at Slate, sign up for Slate Plus now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

7: To Do No Harm?

This episode was originally released in 2015.In Episode 7 of the History of American Slavery, hosts Rebecca Onion and Jamelle Bouie explore how science and medicine interacted with slavery in antebellum America. They discuss how doctors such as J. Marion Sims used human experimentation on enslaved subjects to help advance the practice of medicine. And they explore how scientific racism, as practiced by doctors such as Samuel Cartwright, was used to justify slaveholder ideology. Jamelle and Rebecca begin their discussion by looking at the life of Anarcha (1828?-unknown), an enslaved women who endured more than 34 experimental surgeries that culminated in a path-breaking medical discovery.See this episode's complete show notes.This series was made possible by Slate Plus members. To support more work like this at Slate, sign up for Slate Plus now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

6: When Cotton Became King

This episode was originally released in 2015.In Episode 6 of the History of American Slavery, hosts Rebecca Onion and Jamelle Bouie explore the rise of the antebellum cotton economy in the early decades of the 19th century. They discuss how the growth of the cotton industry transformed the American system of slavery and the lives of enslaved people. And they discuss slavery’s relationship with the development of modern American capitalism. They begin the episode by discussing the life of Charles Ball, who wrote about his experience working on a cotton plantation in his autobiography, Slavery in the United States: A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Charles Ball.See this episode's complete show notes.This series was made possible by Slate Plus members. To support more work like this at Slate, sign up for Slate Plus now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5: What Happened When Slaves Rebelled

This episode was originally released in 2015.In Episode 5 of the History of American Slavery, hosts Rebecca Onion and Jamelle Bouie explore the slave rebellions—both real and imagined—that unfolded during the settlement of the 19th-century American frontier. They discuss the largest slave insurgency in American history, Louisiana’s 1811 German Coast rebellion. And then they explore an imagined slave revolt in Mississippi and the heady, boom-time conditions that led Mississippi slaveholders into panic and hysteria. Jamelle and Rebecca begin Episode 5 by remembering the life of Charles Deslondes (unknown–1811), a leader of the German Coast uprising.See this episode's complete show notes.This series was made possible by Slate Plus members. To support more work like this at Slate, sign up for Slate Plus now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.