About book White Cargo: The Forgotten History Of Britain's White Slaves In America (2008)
“White Cargo” is the history of pre-Revolutionary white indentured servitude in North America. It is a story that is as unloved and it is, unlovely; yet Jordan and Walsh bring the institution, its victims and its compelling consequences to life in this fascinating, layman-friendly read. Beginning with the story of Jamestown’s founding in 1607, the authors recount how, over a century and a half, wave after wave of various cohorts of people were transported as a cheap, convenient labor source to tame the Brittan’s New World colonies. Under the system, those who were deemed unworthy or those who were either desperate or naïve were seconded to America and made to serve out mulit-year periods of servitude. The indentured were essentially landless, right-less slaves who worked under unimaginably brutal and dehumanizing conditions The abuse and cruel exploitation inherent in the game of convict labor and debt peonage played by pre-Revolutionary land holders will be familiar to anyone who has read Blackmon’s “Slavery by Anther Name”. Predating slightly the first African slaves sold in America, among the first brought over as “servants” were British orphans and homeless children between the ages of 8 and 16. English cities were full of untended urchins, and America became seen as a place to offload these surplus and unwanted children. Most of them died within a year or so. Over successive generations, to the ranks of these children were added Irish and Scottish peasants displaced by Cromwell’s army, religious dissenters, Royalists, convicts, German émigrés, kidnap victims who happened to live near port cities and the so-called free-willers….those who voluntarily signed up to be slaves in order to be able to make new lives for themselves in the New World paradise. In total, it is estimated that approximately 300,000 white indentured servants were brought to America prior to the revolution. By contrast, the number of African slaves totaled somewhere between 500,000 and 600,000. However, during the first century of the British settlement of North America, the number of white servants outnumbered black slaves by a huge margin. Understanding the societal dynamic that evolved over the 150 year history of white servitude in America is critical to anyone interested in understanding racial oppression in America today. The early colonists were equal opportunity oppressors who were completely unconcerned about race. “Unimportants” , be they the “poor scum of Europe” or kidnapped Africans, were all beings unworthy of dignity and available to be exploited without fear of moral consequence. The slow but inexorable migration from white indentured servitude to African slavery is an important part of America’s story….and one that, unless it is recognized and acknowledged, one unlikely to be understood, embraced and learned from. The book is written in a light, easy-to-read style that is free of the turgid prose common in more “academic” histories. As such, it was both an “interesting read” and a “good read”.
Another book I'm reading for my US history paper that I'm writing about Colonial America use of convicts as indentured servants or white slavery. The previous two books I've read on the subject was Emigrants in Chains and Bound for America. I found this book to repeat some of the same things brought up in the other ones, but I would prefer this one over the others in that the depth in which he does to explaining situations. For example, in Bound for America Ekirch stated a case where a convict had murdered his master and the masters wife, nothing else. Jordan not only delves into what caused the man to murder to them, but also accounts the convicts trial and the ripple effect that occurred because of this. White Cargo does not specifically deal with Britain's convicts being sent to Colonial America. He also goes into, the Irish, Scottish convicts being sent, political prisoners, street children, people who were kidnapped and sent to the "new world". Not only that he deals with how England was leading up to transportation and the people who were involved in creating it (you'd be surprised). He delves into the corruption that was prevalent in England at the time and their laws which protected property but not people. Jordan provided much valuable information that I could use for my paper and it was an engaging and thrilling (sometimes horrifying) read.
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Really enjoyed this book. I got it because I suspect one of my mom's ancestor's was an indentured servant (traced him back to service in the American Revolution but can find nothing prior to that) and expected the usual dry history book. I was wrong. This is a very readable history book, and I couldn't put it down. If you enjoy learning about the past, then you'll love this book.Note:when I checked out the reviews for this book on Amazon, I was amazed at the number of reviews from people who didn't seem to realize they were reading NONFICTION. This isn't a novel, so don't expect a 'plot' or 'characters.' If you want romantic fiction in a pseudo-historical setting a la "The Tudors" or "The White Queen," you won't like this book. This is an actually history of indentured servitude, not a novel.
—TKay
White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America was a good resource for my research into the connection between Britain and Barbados. I'm currently piecing together the story of my 8th great-grandfather and his journey from Lord of the Manor to slave on a sugar plantation in Barbados to land owner in the USA. It was quite an adventure, and I am reading lots of books about the white slave trade. As a child, I recall learning about slaves being kidnapped from their native lands, shipped in disease ridden cargo holds, traded and sold like animals, and then forced with brutality and whipping to work on plantations. It never crossed my mind that one of my ancestors would have the same fate and arrive at it from Great Britain. (Time for a learning moment: What is the difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain, and England? http://geography.about.com/library/fa... )This book will help you understand the many layers of slavery and will likely surprise you -- for example, the slave trade was made to look good, and when more labor was needed, it expanded to include all kinds of people being shipped off. My ancestor would have been one of those, and he was one of the 25 people that lived through the cargo hold passage and when he emerged in Barbados was sold on the docks for sugar. The slave trade was a huge money maker. Some of the "bad guys" include founders like George Washington, and they don't come out well in their portrayals, on the other side of the ocean, Sir John Popham and Oliver Cromwell come off worse. I was happy to see that Benjamin Franklin is one of the few good guys. For my purposes there are lots of sources and footnotes that helped me find even more materials to use in my research. I liked the book, and appreciate the research the authors put into writing it. For some it may be a bit like eating sand -- dry. For history buffs and those with a passion for genealogy, it is full of helpful tidbits.
—Kathleen Riley-Daniels
Some people talk of hating all people equally, the English of the 17th and 18th century lived it. They kidnapped and sold into slavery their own children! The “Powers That Be” at this time were mean spirited, miserable wretches that in fact did enslave many from the British Isles. This book gives some frightening statistics and the method of operandi of those who committed these heinous crimes, from Cromwell to the meanest street thug. A must read for anyone going to teach about colonial America or slavery. And now the teaser: the first recorded slave for life in the colonies was registered by an African., himself a former “indentured servant”.
—Ed Hillenbrand
