Slavery in Colonial Georgia, 1730-1775 - by Betty Wood (Paperback)

About the Book

Wood examines the reasons which prompted James Oglethorpe and the other British founders of the colony to originally ban slavery. She also looks at the development of slavery in Georgia during the quarter century before the Revolution, with special attention on the experience of black slaves in late colonial Georgia.

Book Synopsis

Georgia was the only British colony in America in which a sustained effort was made to prohibit the introduction and use of black slaves at a time when the institution of slavery was well established in the other southern colonies.

In the first half of Slavery in Colonial Georgia, Betty Wood examines the reasons which prompted James Oglethorpe and the other British founders of the colony to originally ban slavery. In their concern for the manners and morals of white society, she says, they anticipated many of the arguments to be employed subsequently by the opponents of slavery on both sides of the Atlantic. The second half of the book examines the development of slavery in Georgia during the quarter century before the Revolution, with special attention on the experience of black slaves in late colonial Georgia.

Review Quotes

A solid contribution to the study of colonial America.

--American Historical Review

A valuable study of a topic which, until now, has been given only cursory treatment. . . . Wood's detailed account [is] an essential reference volume which will, no doubt, remain the standard work on the subject for years to come.

--Georgia Historical Quarterly

Any future judgment on the subject [of Georgia slavery] will depend upon the sources located and used by Betty Wood.

--Times Literary Supplement

Based on a careful investigation of nearly all pertinent primary and secondary literature. Out of this vast amount of material, often apparently contradictory, Wood has constructed a very clear and convincing account of the emergence of slavery in Georgia. It is an absolute must for all students of early Georgia history.

--Journal of American History

Makes a substantial contribution . . . It is a well written introduction to slavery and slave life in colonial Georgia; it is much closer to a definitive account of how the institution took root there. . . . A considerable achievement.

--Eighteenth-Century Studies

About the Author

BETTY WOOD was a Reader in American History, Girton College, University of Cambridge. Her works include Slavery in Colonial America, 1619-1775 and Women's Work, Men's Work: The Informal Slave Economies of Lowcountry Georgia, 1750-1830 (Georgia).