White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America

By Michael Walsh, Don Jordan, Michael Walsh, et al.

Book Overview

The forgotten story of the thousands of white Britons who lived and died in bondage in Britain's American colonies

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, more than 300,000 white people were shipped to America as slaves. Urchins were swept up from London's streets to labor in the tobacco fields, where life expectancy was no more than two years. Brothels were raided to provide "breeders" for Virginia. Hopeful migrants were duped into signing as indentured servants, unaware they would become personal property who could be bought, sold, and even gambled away. Transported convicts were paraded for sale like livestock.

Drawing on letters crying for help, diaries, and court and government archives, Don Jordan and Michael Walsh demonstrate that the brutalities usually associated with black slavery alone were perpetrated on whites throughout British rule. The trade ended with American independence, but the British still tried to sell convicts in their former colonies, which prompted one of the most audacious plots in Anglo-American history.

This is a saga of exploration and cruelty spanning 170 years that has been submerged under the overwhelming memory of black slavery. White Cargo brings the brutal, uncomfortable story to the surface.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814742963
• ISBN13: 9780814742969
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: New York University Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Insightful!

Information contained in this book is not taught in our schools today. Unlike these authors, naysayers have helped to solidify the false national narrative created after the war to make the North look good and have based their opinions on today's lenses instead of relying on primary documents for their information like these authors have done. History includes the good, the bad, and the ugly....you can't cherry pick the parts you agree with and omit the rest. Great book!

I Actually Got Educated!

I loved this book! It was rather surprising to me as the USA education system teaches us the very opposite of the information within these pages. Anyone who seeks to find bits and pieces of the truth concerning the Transatlantic Slave Trade in North America should read this book. Especially if you were educated in the USA or are of the “white” or “black” race. The authors seemed to hold true to the research they found in a world that says something else. A very informative read.