Transcripts For CSPAN3 Slavery In Colonial New England 20240713

Thank you all for making us a part of your week. I would like excuse me. I would like to thank cspan for filming us so that others who cannot be with us tonight can see it at a later date. And thank you to the abaco atoms Historical Society and their board of directors, who offered us this wonderful opportunity to partner with them as we did last year with their speaker, edith. Abigails rich history in this region inspires as everyday. Thank you. The hingham Historical Society is focused like never before on his history, to understand all voices. We currently are in the midst of a campaign for the Benjamin Lincoln house, which is our effort to purchase the home of hinghams American Revolutionary war hero. Benjamin lincoln received the british surrender at yorktown. Or as we like to tell schoolchildren, that is Benjamin Lincoln on the white horse. He is featured so prominently in the rotunda of the u. S. Capitol. Benjamin lincoln served hingham as a clerk, constable, and selectman. He also came from a family that owned slaves. And two blocks from here, theres a slave quarter in the attic of the Benjamin Lincoln home. Our next major exhibit here at the museum generates out of the archaeological finds excavation. The artifacts of colonial bustle fishing waste, and they tell many stories. But the amazing story of the tribe for which the commonwealth gets its name, the massachusetts , and we are privileged to work with the massachusetts tribes, a member of whom is here with us tonight, to work on this exhibit, to be sure, for the first time in the hingham Historical Societys history we present the voices correctly, but how do we do this . How do we tell the story of slavery . How do we tell the story of our native people well and correctly . And we do it together. And it is a joy to be here tonight with all of you. All voices at the table. And thank you for coming to tonights program. I would like to introduce michelle, head of the board at the abaco atoms Historical Society, who will introduce our speaker. Enter for coming tonight. Thank you for coming tonight. [applause] welcome and thank you so much for coming this evening. I want to thank deirdre and michael sincerely and the rest of the hingham Historical Society for partnering with us on a program. We are so happy to do this. Before i get into the introduction, i want to tell you about another program you might find of interest. On saturday, march 28, from 9 00 to 1 00 in plymouth, the backroads of the south shore, which is a consortium of local historical organizations, of which the hingham Historical Society and the Abigail Adams birthday place birthplace are a part, are hosting the symposium. We have so many exciting anniversaries this year in massachusetts that this symposium will be focusing on those anniversaries, such as the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the mayflower, 100th anniversary of the reaching of womens suffrage. Interestingly, locally, the 100th anniversary of the trial which will be the subject of the keynote. More information is available on our website. So i am a member of the Abigail Adams Historical Society and the Abigail Adams birthplace, which was built in 1685 in weymouth. It is where Abigail Smith adams was born. She lived for the first 20 years of her life until she married john adams in 1764. She continued to be connected to this house throughout her life. She visited her parents throughout her parents lives. This was a place where her character and ideals were formed so its very important to her. We are an all volunteer organization and we try to continue her spirit by offering Educational Programs and seasonal tours and private tours. If you would like more information, please check out her website. When i first joined the Abigail Adams birthplace board a few years ago, despite knowing how prevalent slavery was, i was still shocked to discover that there were slaves in the home where Abigail Adams grew up. Her antislavery sentiments are wellknown, but her father, reverend williams smith, had at least four slaves. These individuals were important to Abigail Adamss early life. We try to honor their memory by researching their lives, i wanted jared to speak for us since his first book came out, slavery, independence in 18thcentury boston, and this year, the stars have aligned, so jared is an associate professor at western washington university, and he is the author of black lives native lands, white worlds, a history of slavery in new england, and i welcome you to give jared a warm welcome. [applause] good evening, everyone. Thank you for coming. Thank you to the hingham Historical Society and deidra and michael and everyone here. This place is really swanky. It is really nice. And also to the board of the Abigail Adams Historical Society birthplace. It is a great honor to be here, and it is certainly thanks to the audience here tonight as well. This is now the seventh book talk i have given in new england about this particular book. And almost every one of them has been sold out. That is heartening as an author but also as someone who cares about this subject and once this information out there as an educator as well, so it is my great honor to be here this evening to talk about lack lives, native lands, white worlds, a history of slavery in new england. This book is the first general overview of slavery in new england in nearly 80 years. The last book to do this was Lorenzo Johnston greens many glow that negro. There have been plenty of books since then. They are usually part of larger histories of slavery in the United States, in the american north, or a focused historical study, and i am certainly guilty of doing that in my first book. This is a general overview meant for the reading public. This evening, i want to discuss the purpose of writing this book. In other words, why i think we need this book in this moment. And then give you a brief overview of its contents. In doing so, i will talk a bit about the history of slavery in new england more generally. So why write this book at all, especially in this moment . In the end, i envision this book as a conversation or rather, mean narrating a conversation that has been going on for about the past 25 years, and you see four different conversations going on in that time period. The first, there has been a massive outpouring of academic scholarship, books, journal articles, and things like that, by scholars on the topic of new england slavery. Much of that scholarship, and i am totally guilty, has been hyper specialized, focusing on particular places, moments, themes, or sets of sources. These works, as excellent as they are, sometimes make it are thend conversation libraries, archives, and historical societies across new england who identify their own collections related to save and made them available. But also something as simple as digitized catalogs provide headlines related to slavery. The make them easier to identify and much more accessible. To add to that, historical reckoning by leading institutions across new england such as Brown Universitys report on slavery injustice. That reckoning which started in 2003 has extended to Historic Sites large and small. And local andties state governments have all begun to dig into their own past and relationship with slavery. The work of community historians,ublic local historians, independent researchers who have uncovered a incredible amount on slavery and publicized it in the most radically accessible way on blogs and things like that. This forces us all to acknowledge the regions history in connection with slavery. We have all of these different conversations that have been going on for the past generation. Many different people talking to each other, with each other, at each other, past each other often times about the history of slavery in new england, the memory of that history, and the politics of that memory. Book i tried to bring together these conversations and use them to narrate more comprehensive, yet accessible, history of new england slavery. In short, i stand on the shoulders of people who have been in the trenches doing this work for the past 25 years. In that sense, i view the book framework orn starting point for future conversations. How do i narrate this conversation . Lives ofed the enslaved africans and Indigenous People in new england. How that was instrumental to the colonization of the region and how slavery and colonization were two processes designed to make new england into a place to serve the white population, especially the most elite. All three of those are tall orders in and of themselves but to do that in about 60,000 words the editor told me no more than 60,000 words that is about 175 pages. To make it approachable to the reading public was no small task. In short, make sure it is readable. The hardest part about writing the book was not what to research and write. I had 25 years of source academics,om active researchers, and activists but how. A book that is short but comprehensive, comprehensive yet readable, readable yet sensitive to the subject matter. Now the book is published in many of you bought copies. I hope i pulled it off. [laughter] the book is both a chronological and topical narrative that opens with the colonization of new england in the 16 20s and 16 30s and ends in the early 19th century with emancipation. Chronology, a big history. The book uses one organizing theme connections. I look at the connection between new england slavery and slavery in other societies of the americas. I look at the slavery in new england to the larger social, economic, and Political Development of the region. Finally, i look at how those two shape theonnections lives of enslaved people and how enslaved people shape the connections. It is a total order but nevertheless the book opens by examining the connection between slavery and colonization. Is anyone familiar with the history of slavery in new england . There is a mythical moment that historians said was the beginning. Ship the 1638 and the desire sailed into Boston Harbor and John Winthrop recorded the cargo on board and there was listedsalt, and he african captives. Date. S the starting over the past 15 years, historians have begun to challenge that is a foundational moment in the history of slavery in new england. First, there were enslaved people in new england before 1638. We have direct testimony from the early 16 30s of the presence of enslaved africans. Scholarship and where is not tries to develop only studying the desire when it came in but when it left. Andas based out of boston historians begin looking into what did the desire ship to the west indies to purchase salt, sugar, and captives . Desire weref the a number of pequot captives. 1636 and 1638 we went to war against the pequot people. That yielded hundreds of captives. Many were enslaved locally in new england towns but we know a couple hundred were sold out of the colony. There sold out of new england to the west indies where they are exchanged for african captives. We see the direct connection between slavery and colonization in new england. Slavery served a dual purpose. First, it serve the purpose of removing Indigenous People from their land, to open it for english settlement. What better way to remove people than to permanently tear them away, sell them away from their homeland . This allows for the rapid expansion of the new england colonies both large numbers of immigrants, production rate. They quickly expand into the interior and that creates labor shortages especially in areas that were settled early. The port towns like boston, salem, places like that. They use african slave labor to supplement the labor force as a whole. You see the process of exchanging native captives for african captives and that is the foundation of slavery in new england. That process will continue, exchanging captives, through the 16 70s. Suggests, central to it was new englands connection to the west indies. Especially the growing plantation economies. The english settled the west indies about the same time they settled new england. They arrived in barbados a little bit later. Very quickly these islands are colonized and turned over to sugar cultivation. Isost the entire island strip of forest and any piece of land is planted with sugar can e. They used enslaved africans to work the plantations. These islands, because they have been stripped of the forest, they need food. They need provisions for the enslaved labor force. They need supplies like timber for building and burning, they need livestock for food and labor, and they turned to new england. You see new englanders selling the provisions to the west indies. Used to fuel the plantation complex there and in exchange, new englanders receive sugar and molasses and enslaved africans. It forms a symbiotic relationship between the two regions, between new england and the west indies. This in the attic relationship and this relationship symbiotic relationship that extends beyond the economic but there is a considerable amount of Cultural Exchange as well. Some of the earliest graduates of harvard were the sons of west indian planters. Intermarriagesive between merchant families and new england and plantar families in the west indies. That further solidifies the economic ties and new england colonies began borrowing heavily from the slice of societies in the caribbean to create their own system of slaver here. Massachusetts got slavery directly from barbados and most enslaved people who arrived spent time in the west indies before they arrived here. Sometimes they were born there, sometimes they spent a couple of months after arriving on the ship, but they spent time in the caribbean. Connectioncaribbean as a starting point my book then turns and explores the way enslaved people arrived in new england. About 20,000 enslaved africans andved between the 16 30s 1775. The comprised 4 of the population. That is another place we stop and question the way in which the history of slavery in new england has been written. One of the ways in which historians have pushed back against or others have pushed back against importance of slavery is the demographic numbers. It is only 4 of the population. How important could it be . There to answers i take up. When you look in specific regions, the enslaved population is significantly higher. To 50 is about 12 enslaved. Newport, rhode island is about 15 enslaved. It is not just the urban areas which is the other thing historians would say and this is the mistake i first made in my book. Book actuallyis reveals it there are significant enslaved populations in the other regions. 1750ield, massachusetts in had a population of 550 people of which 50 were enslaved. Largecounty was home to Slave Holdings. Families who had owned thousands of acres of grassland with vast herds of cattle would own large enslaved labor forces mostly women who would process the Dairy Products to ship to the west indies. You see Slave Holdings in the south county, rhode island of 40, 50, 60 enslaved people. Localized but left a significant slaveholding that belies that 4 . The other way in which i kind of pushed back is going back to that caribbean connection. While there were not large numbers of enslaved people in new england per se the entire economy revolved around what historians call the business of slavery. The selling of provisions to the plantations, the transportation of enslaved people throughout the americas but also the Transatlantic Slave Trade will get to that in a second. The entire economy revolved around enslavement. Historian of new england but the name of Mark Peterson published a book on boston and he phrased it pretty well when he said boston was a slight society where most of the enslaved people lived elsewhere. That is what we could say for new england as a whole. I push back against getting caught up in the demographics for the reasons i explained but also that they embraced slave trading especially from africa but also within the americas as a form of commerce. The colony of rhode island became the center of slave trading in all british north america. If you take all of the slave iodages from the colonial per and you added them up, they would not equal those of rhode island. Far theland is by center of the british north american slave trade. It rivals those of the west indies as well. Trading extensive slave central to the economy of the colony. That is how i set up the second chapter. Pushing back against the demographic facts, to which enslaved people arrived in new england and pushback against those narratives. Most important, i dedicate the bulk of it to exploring the lives of five individuals trafficked and their stories and experiences of arriving and being enslaved. I want to read a short passage from the book about one of these men. Some of you might be familiar with him. Gallows, on the town commons in massachusetts negro man livered a speech to a large crowd awaiting his as a fusion. Awaiting his execution. He poisoned his master and only confessed his crime but offered repentance. He provided a short biography of his life. According to his confession, he was born into slavery in barbados sometime in the year 1725. He was sold away from the island as a boy, probably around the age of eight when he could be put to work and when he arrived in boston, he was sold to a succession of masters. One was a brass worker and was especially kind having learned him to read and educated him as tenderly as one of his own children. He must not have been that kind mark who sold him to another master. Conman put mark to work and that he toiled working as an ironworker until he finally grew tired of the abuse and murdered him. Marks story helps illustrate an important trend. It is easy we discussed the anyrade to the region enslaved people who arrived in new england were born in the west indies and trafficked up your us children. They are natives of the caribbean and it shows the depth of the caribbean connection. This is why it is so important to delve into these individual lives because it helps to prevent us from stereotyping most enslaved people in new england were african or whatnot. It allows us to see their background and flesh them out as people. From there, the book has three chapters exploring the institution of slavery in new england and the lives of enslaved people. These chapters look at topics like slave law, slave labor. By the early 18th century, you could find enslaved people working in every part of the economy whether it was domestic servitude, household as women providing support or men serving as valets, but also every industry. Every major colonial industry slave labor was central to it, especially in urban areas like boston. In the rural farm economy as well you see extensive use of enslaved labor. It is everywhere by the early 18th century, deeply ingrained. These chapters also look at the lived experience of slavery and resistance. Me to narrate the storys comes back to the i told about mark. The records here are really rich. The court records, the account books kept by merchants and manufacturers, private letters and diaries, wills, print sources like newspapers give us a really good sense of what life was like for enslaved people. For example, in one of the major collections for the colony of massachusetts are court file for the colony as a whole. There are hundreds of testimonies and depositions from enslaved people. They are biased and testifying on a certain case as a witness or plaintiff or defendant but they are also talking about everyday lives who they encounter, who they know, what they know. You can hear their voices through these documents and that is unique for understanding slavery in the englishspeaking world until the 19th century. The records here are really rich and you can find them everywhere. Look you are going to find the presence of slavery in the documentary record. That allows us to narrate and tell the stories of enslaved people, with their lives were like, what they did for work, with the relationship between parents and children were, who they married, you can see all of these facets in the book takes those up and turn. The final chapter explores the American Revolution and its impact on slavery. The revolution, in many ways, provided the impetus for ending slavery in new england, both ideological and economic. More significantly it created opportunities for enslaved people to strike out further unfreedom through activism through their own freedom through activism or simply running away. The opportunities from the revolution open up a world of possibilities. This is perhaps my favorite part two research, this revolution. My first book was cut short because i did not want to deal with the revolution and did this when i do. I found some amazing things. If you look at the 1790 federal census for the state of connecticut, and the census they only list householders but they will list the race. If you look in the state of connecticut, if you find all the africanamerican men who were the head of house, 20 were veterans in the Continental Army and they could link freedom to service in the Continental Army. Disproportionately africanamerican men in new england fought in the Continental Army. They served and many could link their freedom to that service. The American Revolution had two sides. There is plenty of evidence of enslaved people joining the british as well. One of my favorite stories i found was of a man named poppy fleet. He belonged to a mannitols fleet junior thomas fleet junior who was a printer in boston and a rabid patriot. Appearance in the record he comes and goes in and out for a 25 year period beginning in 1774. His first appearance is a runaway. Thomas fleet junior poles and at because poppy has runaway but he did not run away from thomas fleet, he ran away from jail. [laughter] england,avers in new if they could not control the women, let the town or state deal with them. That is what had happened to poppy but he broke out. He disappears again. Appearance is march 17, precise, evacuation day. There is a record when the camped at the end of the war of independence. 3000 africanamericans were living in and around new york city, working with and for the british military, and they evacuate them. One of the officers, guy carlton, records all the people of african descent who left. He records their names, spouses, ages, and how they came to end up in british service. Appears in this record and it lists evacuated with the army from boston. We know he evacuated with the british army. He lived in new york city for the duration of the war where he worked for a loyalist printer by the name of Alexander Robinson. Then he moved to halifax, nova scotia and possibly received some land. He continued working for Alexander Robinson publishing the royal american gazette until 1786 when robinson decided he was going to leave and move to Prince Edward island. Poppy again disappears from the record and appears again in 1791. He departed for sierra leone which is a colony the british loyalists tolack resettle in west africa. Im comfortable saying this but preface it with circumstantial evidence suggests he was the first printer and sierra leone. [laughter] it is a really neat story. You can see in which the forces of the revolution move enslaved around the atlantic. Because of stories like poppy fleet and the story of the heads of household in connecticut that chapter on the American Revolution ends on a cautiously optimistic note. By the 1780s, slavery had no legal standing. Enslaved people were rapidly becoming free in theory. The slave trade had been a abolished in theory. Free people could become equal members of the new United States in theory. Is muchogue of the book less optimistic. It examines all those in theories and put them into context demonstrating the way enslaved and recently free people were systematically denied freedom, disenfranchised, segregated and alienated from white society. One of the other opportunities i wasin researching this book studying selling out. This began in the 1760s and lasted through the 1790s in which both enslaved and free black people were sold out of new england. Many of them were kidnapped. Every new england state had passed laws against this yet continued. The work of abolitionist societies came to be poorly composed try to help people who were kidnapped and petition the government to have them found and brought back. Significant numbers of enslaved and free black new englanders are sold out of the region. Many of them end up in atlantic canada. There are ties between new england and nova scotia for example in the maritime economies and nova scotia could use the slave labor. Loyalistke a look at newspapers, they also publish runaway slave ads and you would find and add with the enslave or who took the ad would say they are trying to get home to massachusetts. The numbers are hard to get because it is a illegal activity. If you look at the providence abolitionist aside, black civil to preventvists selling out, i would estimate as many as 1000 people were trafficked out of new england between the 1760s and 1790s. This is 20,000 people of the riod. E colonial pe this is lost promises of freedom. Not only do have selling out but the rise of segregation. In Public Schools are segregated in new england. Yet the marginalization you have the marginalization from the labor force. You have the rise of racism and racist principles to public policy. Many free people just leave new england entirely. Many black veterans who served with the Continental Army just settled away from new england and never returned,. Others drifted town to town and being chased out by authorities. Whatl this was happening, was happening in white new England Society . I will do a second reading from the book here. Region, or left the struggle to eke out a living, the white population never faced the consequences for the sins of slavery. They enjoyed all the benefits of generations of slave ownership with little regard to those who suffered under the yoke. Even sympathetic whats or enslavers that relies the whites or enslavers that realized the error of their ways never saw. It get poor whites psychological satisfaction of racial superiority. Whitesery dwindled, many including those that owned slaves begin to define themselves as fundamentally different from other americans, especially those in the south. New england was free soil so rich in liberty that slavery could never take deep roots. Slavery in this line of thought was never important to the new england economy, was only practiced by wealthy families, and was a largely benevolent institution. Most important, white new englanders realize the errors of their ways during the revolution and abolished slavery forever. In crafting this narrative, whites absolve themselves of the sins of slavery. Such a belief system allowed them to shift the blame away from the legacy of slavery and onto individual failings. Under this logic, if people cannot thrive in a land of liberty and opportunity, they have no one to blame but themselves. What new englanders made slavery, and its legacies, history. Facet the reverberates to us today. The ability of white new englanders to distance themselves from slavery helped craft many of the myths about slavers in new england. That slavery was economically unimportant, that only a few people were enslaved and slavery never took root in new england, that morally superior new englanders so the ever of their ways and abolished slavery, or slavery never existed in new england. At least not any form most americans would recognize. My hope is that, at the very least, this book is able to confront and fight against those myths. Thank you so much. [applause] i am happy to take a few questions but please do wait for the microphone. Who were the earliest voices against slavery . Second, what is your view on reparations . Oh, boy. [laughter] answer, the earliest antislavery activity. You are going to see into slavery activity by the early 18th century. Something i should mention, the enslaved people were never fans of slavery. There is always antislavery sentiment as long as slavery is present. [laughter] of actual white sentiment against slavery, you begin to see this in the early 18th century. Quakers were some of the earliest antislavery. But quicker antislavery has much more to do quaker antislavery has more to do with the ability to own and hold other people as property hurts the godly community. A similar argument came out of justiceewall who was a in massachusetts. He writes a pamphlet in 1700 call the selling of joseph which argues against slavery. s concern about slavery is that enslaved people earn extra facet of blood. They can never be incorporated into the body politic. They are always foreign, always alien and that is why we have to get rid of slavery. It would disrupt the community. Recognize aswe advocating for the end of slavery, perhaps the enfranchisement of black people, is to the revolution of the 1760s and 1770s. One of the things that talk about his individual initiative. Filing lawsuits and things like that. There was a community of abolitionist lawyers that help to them. The question of reparations. [laughter] i am not comfortable answering that, first of all. The question is what constitutes reparations . That is the first question. And one ofan essay the things it says is that we will share any reparations, including africanamericans. It would be redistributing public goods to help immunities that were affected by the Legacy Communities that were affected by slavery. Go. Ink that is the road to it, and where of i am more comfortable talking about this as a history and an educator, not the politic side but the stories have to be told. They should be part of any interpretive programming at Historic Sites. The stories deserve to be told as much as those of the founding fathers. Theres an education component to reparations that is an easier answer for me. These stories should be front and center in our interpretations. They should be present in the way they have not been. I think that is the first step in education. I have a question about the 20,000 that you estimate that were enslaved in new england. I am wondering if you basted 1765 slave census . My reading of the slave census was that it was only persons above 16 that were counted. Based on that, wouldnt you think the number would be higher if you include those who were 16 and below . About 20,000 people using the Transatlantic Slave Trade database arrived in new england. That is not people accounting reproduction, smuggling, or anything like that. 20,000 is a conservative estimate. It also does not take into account native new englanders. Number butlarger about 20,000 in the region. Either thecensuses, other,l one or any dramatically undercut enslaved people. They do not take into account anyone under 16. A very large percentage of enslaved people were children. The largest percentage of slaveholders in a place like boston were artisans. Middleclass people today. They would prefer to buy children because they were cheaper, you could raise them in your household like an apprentice, you could fit them into that system, but they remain property for life. But the time they are adults, they are worth a hefty sum of money and they are skilled and experienced. A desire for enslaved children you can see this in the i think there is a sense that there is just tick undercutting. Like people were taxable property. New englanders did not like paying taxes. Hidehooved them to enslaved people to under klein. Under claim. There is a record taken over 1500 enslaved people in boston in 1752 and you look at the slave census in 1754 and there is only like 900. What happened to 600 people . There dramatically undercounting. This is one thing that has led to historian saying there is nothing many. That is not the case. I think there is dramatic undercounting and i am being very conservative with numbers. I had a question which is a preamble to your book. I was struck when youre talking about folks in the 16 30s, enslaved people, that they came make somethe skill to of the a slave. They also came with societal permission as to what they could get away with. Question is kind of without going back to egypt and and the magnae carta was a permission granted for native peoples, for nonchristian peoples, for people with brown skin . Where did the skills come from and what was the permission granted . There is a lot going on. Slavery largely disappears from england by 1400 or so. Especially after the black death. Said, other forms of on Freedom Still exist. These bound labor even in the accents of slavery absence of slavery. First, englishmen begin traveling abroad. They go all over the world and begin writing about what they see. One of the places they spend a lot of time in is the caribbean and latin america. By the mid16th century, when they visit cuba or mexico or peru, they see large numbers of enslaved africans. Minds is does in their it links slavery to blackness. It ishese travels more complicated but through these travels, that is one of the things that happens. Development the 16th century is the nature of colonization. It is largely private. We think about the virginia company, the Massachusetts Bay come to, the plymouth company, these are private companies with broad abilities to make their own laws. They can do what they want within reason. There are 3000 miles away from any royal oversight. They can craft laws. What happens in massachusetts, in 6041 they legalize slavery. 1641 they legalize slavery. The body of liberty deals with the bonds of slavery. If you read it, you think they it listsavery because it spen three exemptions. People who are captured in just wars like nonchristians, but native people can be enslaved. People who were strangers africans or foreigners. They are strangers among us. Thee who are sold to us is third. You just accounted for the ability to capture native people because they are captured in just wars. Second, for the facilitation of selling people and those who are foreign or strangers. So africans. It reads like the elbow slavery but it is racially codified. What they are saying is that people of european descent cannot be enslaved. Anybody else that is captured or comes in war can be. Finally, the idea of just wars. This is deliberate. If the shocking things talk about that cycle of indigenous captives being sold for african captives. Just how open and deliberate and shameless this was. There is a letter from 6045 of emmanuel downing. 1645 of emmanuel downing. In this letter downing writes to winthrop and says, we should start a war with new gangs it. New ganset. We can sell the captives to the west indies and obtain africans. That salem is running short of laborers. The young people dont want to stick around, the moment they get opportunity, they settle away. They move away from the town. Whered you get a labor force . You have to pay them. Wages are high. You bring in africans who will work one african could be provided for 20 20 africans for one white man with his system. Winthrop shut that down. Any sort of hint of diplomatic issues with Indigenous People you will see these letters. People wanting to capitalize, see an opportunity to capture Indigenous People to sell. Their but i would end i will add one more thing. This is a cycle that continues until king philips war. Captives of indigenous are sold out of new england. Upwards of 2500 people are captured and sold to the west indies. Most are sold by the colony of massachusetts, not private merchants. So many indigenous captives are being sold out of new england to barbados and jamaica that both of those banding further importation ban the further importation. There were eight of a slave rebellion. They were worried of a slave rebellion. My apologies for going on forever. Are you aware of any changes textbooks . Ith school has anyone been contacting you about trying to update and present the real stories so that idearen will have a better of what really happened . For me, no. I know theres a push to get my book in high schools from the press. Most of my work has been on the public history front. Ive done work for a few other groups. Y have begun to move Nathaniel Hall is doing the same thing to move the story of slavery to the front. I think at some point the dam will break. Youre going to start to see these changes happening in textbooks. Things is remarkable how many people come up afterward that i never learned this. I did not know this. Myselfing i think of is this conversation going on. I hope that dam is about to break. What made you become so interested in this topic . That is a long story. It started is fairly pragmatic. Ever since i was an undergraduate i knew i wanted to study history and i became interested in the history of slavery. I always thought i was going to south. Oring of the i get to Boston College and realize graduate school takes a long time. You want to be a little more pragmatic and i had to learn a couple foreign languages. I realized i did not want to be in graduate school for a decade. Looking and realized there was not a vast literature of slavery in new england. There had been nothing on boston. There is history of slavery in new york, philadelphia, but when a boston . That was the point when when my professors at Boston College massive me of the collection of court file papers. He said it is hard to navigate take a look. I found all of these testimonies and depositions, about 300 of them, and i have never seen that before. This is amazing. Not only could i write a history of slavery in boston but i could Say Something about their lives. I ended up writing the first book but this book came out of a frustration. I wanted when i embarked on the research for the first book, i wanted a short readable history that would give me an overview. I would have a reference work or something. There are a couple of books that work but they were not particularly short and did not have a lot to further reading. A pragmatict of concern but when i got into the actual process of writing i realized that i was at a crossroads with all of these people talking to each other. In the process of writing the first book, i met so many other scholars who were working on slavery in new england, activists, educators and i thought this is bigger than just my kind of scholarly needs. This warrants a public conversation. [laughter] any other questions . [applause] in your research, did you come across anything specific to hingham . Talentede all these records when looking at censuses but i did not come across anything in particular to hingham. I endedd from michelle, up writing a bit about slave owners of hingham. Hingham was part of several counties. A couple of slaveowners who were from here. Thank you all. [applause] thank also much. For those who would like to meet jared, he will be up here signing bookplates. You can have that personalized and we will deliver that you before the weekend when the books arrive tomorrow. If we could form a line here in front of the podium, please. Announcer a state dinner at the white house. Vice president and ms. Lyndon johnson are among those that join ms. Kennedy in honoring his imperial majesty and the empress. This weekend on railamerica, on American History tv, the 1962 alliance with president john kennedy and first lady, jacqueline kennedy. I speak on behalf of all fellow americans and welcoming you to the United States. The interest of both of us is the same to maintain our ,reedom, to maintain our peace and provide a better life for our people. Announcer sunday at 4 p. M. Eastern on America History tv on cspan3. Night on q a, Peggy Wallace kennedy, dr. Of alabama governor and president ial candidate George Wallace, talks about her fathers controversial career and what inspired her to write her book. Back in 1996, we took our youngest son who was nine at the time to the Martin Luther king Museum Historical site in atlanta. Church and his grave and then over to the museum. It was being newly constructed at the time. Exhibitsoing to the and came to the exhibit, the alabama exhibit, and it showed the bombed out baptist church, fire hoses, dogs and George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door. Said,looked up at me and he was so sad. Why did papa do those things to other people . It broke my heart. Said, papa never told me what he did those things to other people but i know he was wrong. Maybe it will have to be up to you and me to help make things right. Announcer watch sunday night at 8 p. M. Eastern on cspan q a. Next on the presidency, Jonathan Holloway talks about how will joe wilson dealt with racial issues throughout his career particularly as time a president as president of Princeton University and then president of United States. Mr. Holloway is a professor of africanamerican studies as both political thought at the Wilson Center in washington, d. C. Which hosted the event. Good afternoon. Welcome, everybody. And jane harman, president ceo of the Wilson Center. I am a recovering politician which is not a 12 step program but i am absolutely delighted that the wilson