Reading for Juneteenth
The JSTOR Daily editors have rounded up a collection of stories that discuss the origins, meaning, and legacy of Juneteenth.
The Great Dissenter’s Complications
Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan I argued the US Constitution was color-blind. He also believed it stood in defense of white supremacy.
Humans for Voyage Iron: The Remaking of West Africa
Europeans used standardized bars of iron mined in northern Europe to purchase humans during the slave era, transforming the coastal landscape of West Africa.
The British Empire’s Bid to Stamp Out “Chinese Slavery”
The mui tsai custom, which the British saw as a Chinese practice, relied on connections made across the multiracial landscape of colonial Malaya.
Taking Slavery West in the 1850s
Before the Civil War, pro-slavery forces in the South—particularly the future president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis—tried to extend their power westward.
Missouri Compromise of 1820: Annotated
The “compromise” attempted to answer the question of whether the Missouri territory would be admitted to the Union as a “slave” or “free” state.
The Power of Pamphlets in the Anti-Slavery Movement
Black-authored print was central to James G. Birney’s conversion from enslaver to abolitionist and presidential candidate.
The Haitian Revolution and American Slavery
For both US politicians and enslaved Black Americans, the Haitian Revolution represented the possibility of a successful violent rebellion by the oppressed.
When Enslaved Virginians Demanded the Right to Read
In 1723, a group of enslaved African Americans petitioned the Bishop of London to ensure that their children could attend school and learn to read the Bible.
Slavery and the Modern-Day Prison Plantation
"Except as punishment for a crime," reads the constitutional exception to abolition. In prison plantations across the United States, slavery thrives.