Masters of Violence: The Plantation Overseers of Eighteenth-Century Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia

From trusted to tainted, an examination of the shifting perceived reputation of overseers of enslaved people during the eighteenth century.

In the antebellum southern United States, major landowners typically hired overseers to manage their plantations. In addition to cultivating crops, managing slaves, and dispensing punishment, overseers were expected to maximize profits through increased productivity—often achieved through violence and cruelty. In Masters of Violence, Tristan Stubbs offe...