Setting Slavery's Limits: Physical Confrontations in Antebellum Virginia, 1801-1860

Using slave trials from antebellum Virginia, Christopher H. Bouton offers the first in-depth examination of physical confrontations between slaves and whites. These extraordinary acts of violence brought the ordinary concerns of enslaved Virginians into focus. Enslaved men violently asserted their masculinity, sought to protect themselves and their loved ones from punishment, and carved out their own place within southern honor culture.



Enslaved women resisted sexual exploitation and their ...