Race & Enslavement Theory

This section focuses on rare books from 18-1900 that discuss the ethics and morality of slavery in America and the Cotton Empire in the WVRHC Rare Book Room. The extended collection included eleven books that either criticize or defend slavery.

Title: Cotton Is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments
Creator: Ebenezer Newton Elliott
Date Created: 1860
Abstract: Ebenezer Newton Elliott and seven other writers are compiled in this 1860 edition of Cotton is King that defended slavery in America. Elliott states in the first few paragraphs that the abolitionists are wrong about the concept of slavery and says that slavery is not different from servitude, that it is of mutual benefit to both the master and the enslaved. There are also illustrations of all eight authors before each of their essays. This source would be useful for research on Pro-Slavery Arguments and Slavery in America.
Source: WorldCat

Title: Crania Americana
Creator: Samuel George Morton
Date Created: 1839
Abstract: The Crania Americana is a scientific research book by Samuel Morton, an American physician who conducted extensive osteological research on human skulls of many different ethnicities around the world. The resulting book has been used for years in the topic of race theory and is credited for creating scientific racism that has had a lasting effect on American science and medicine. The book covers many ethnicities, and from pages 86 to 92 Morton shared his definitions for “The Negro Family” and its subsections. The language that Morton uses within these pages is outdated and stereotypes people in the so-called “Negro family” as not very knowledgeable, savage, and passionate. This source would be useful for research on Scientific Racism.
Source: WorldCat

Title: Essay on Slavery
Creator: Thomas J. Taylor
Date Created: 1851
Abstract: Thomas J. Taylor, a Methodist, authored this essay to give the Methodist view of slavery in America. He condemned the act of slavery but also claimed Methodists were restricted by their faith to be able to fully join in on the conversation of the ethics of slavery. Taylor ultimately calls for white Southern Christians to consider reflection after reading his essay and consider if their actions align with their faith. This source would be useful for research on Slavery Essays and the Church during Slavery.
Source: WorldCat

Title: Negro Life in the South: Present Conditions and Needs
Creator: Willis D. Weatherford
Date Created: 1918
Abstract: In the early 1900s Willis D. Weatherford was a Student Secretary that traveled across college campuses in the South during the height of the Jim Crow era. He advocated for white men of the South to better themselves to improve the conditions of Black Southerners. The first volume of Negro Life in the South was published in 1910, and in it Weatherford defends Black rights in America and encourages white people to understand their struggles. The first page before the books begins contains a poem from Paul Laurence Dunbar, an American poet born in Ohio to enslaved parents. This source would be useful for research on the Jim Crow Era, Racism in the South, and the History of Civil Rights Movements.
Source: WorldCat

Title: White Supremacy and Negro Subordination
Creator: John H. Van Evrie
Date Created: 1868
Abstract: John H. Van Evrie was a physician and a passionate defender of slavery in America. His first pamphlet published in 1853 argued that there were six species of humans and that the Caucasian (white) species was the most dominant of all the species. In this book he argues that Black people are much happier being enslaved and that the natural condition of the Black person is to be enslaved by the Caucasian race. This source would be useful for research on Pro-Slavery Arguments and Slavery in America.
Source: WorldCat

For all Race & Enslavement Citations, see the following page: