John W. Blassingame

Reissued for the first time in over thirty years, Black New Orleans explores the twenty-year period in which the city’s black population more than doubled. Meticulously researched and replete with archival illustrations from newspapers and rare periodicals, John W. Blassingame’s groundbreaking history offers a unique look at the economic and social life of black people in New Orleans during Reconstruction. Not a conventional political treatment, Blassingame’s history instead emphasizes the educational, religious, cultural, and economic activities of African Americans during the late nineteenth century."Blending historical and sociological perspectives, and drawing with skill and imagination upon a variety of sources, [Blassingame] offers fresh insights into an oft-studied period of Southern history....In both time and place the author has chosen an extraordinarily revealing vantage point from which to view his subject. "—Neil R. McMillen, American Historical Review

This volume is one of the first historical studies of slavery in the United States to be presented from the perspective of the enslaved. This work contradicted those historians who had interpreted history to suggest that African American slaves were docile and submissive who enjoyed the benefits of a paternalistic master-slave relationship on Southern plantations. Using psychology, the author analyzes fugitive slave narratives published in the 19th century to conclude that an independent culture developed among the enslaved and that there were a variety of personality types exhibited by slaves. He asserts that by concentrating on the slave owner, historians have presented a distorted view of plantation life that "strips the slave of any meaningful and distinctive culture, family life, religion, or manhood." "The plantation was a battlefield where slaves fought masters for physical and psychological survival. Although unlettered, unarmed, and outnumbered, slaves fought in various ways to preserve their manhood." This impressive and original study views the institution of slavery from a new perspective- that of the slaves themselves. The author challenges the timeworn stereotype of the slave as a passive and docile creature who lacked drive, purpose, and responsibility. He traces the development of the slave's personality traits, analyzes the patterns of resistance within the slave community, and proves conclusively that the slave had a rich cultural and family life that was deliberately kept hidden from the eyes of his white masters. Unlike the many accounts that deal with slavery from the outside, this book ventures inside the slave quarters to re-capture the slave's family life, music, religion, and folklore. Using a variety of sources, including the memoirs of former slaves, the author examines the ways that blacks became enslaved, their process of acculturation in the American South, and their deep ties to their African heritage. He shows how the slave was able to control parts of his own life while often wearing the mask of submissiveness required by the harsh realities of the plantation regime. The author draws upon psychological and sociological insights to reinterpret master-slave relationships. He includes the planter's viewpoint and the traveler's impression to create a dimensional portrait of plantation life that effectively separates mythology from historical reality. -- from Book Jacket. The personality and culture of the plantation slave are investigated from black autobiographies and other historical sources.

If scholars want to know the hearts and secret thoughts of slaves, they must study the testimony of the blacks. But, since the slaves did not know the hearts and secret thoughts of masters, historians must also examine the testimony of whites. Neither the whites nor the blacks had a monopoly on truth, had rended the veil cloaking the life of the other, or had seen clearly the pain and joy bounded by color and caste. The perceptions of neither can be accepted as encapsulating the totality of plantation life. Consequently, whether we focus on the slave or the master, we must systematically examine both black and white testimony. But, just as there are some topics on which only the masters can provide reliable information, there are some questions which only the slaves can answer. - Introduction.