Laboring Women

Laboring Women examines the interconnected histories of reproduction, race, and gender in British colonial America and the Caribbean from the late 1600s through the 1700s. The book focuses on enslaved African women's bodies and labor, tracing how their reproductive capabilities became central to the development of slavery. Jennifer Morgan analyzes travel narratives, plantation records, and other historical documents to reconstruct how European colonizers viewed and treated enslaved women. She demonstrates the ways colonial powers transformed African women's childbearing from a natural process into an economic imperative that served the slave system. The research moves between West Africa, the Caribbean, and North America to show how ideas about race, gender, and reproduction evolved across these regions. Morgan examines specific plantations and communities while maintaining connections to the broader Atlantic world. This historical study reveals fundamental connections between the exploitation of women's bodies and the development of racial ideologies in the Americas. The book stands as a crucial examination of how gender and reproduction became embedded in the foundations of American slavery.

Readers value Morgan's detailed archival research and her analysis of how gender and race shaped slavery in the Americas. Many note the book provides new perspectives on enslaved women's reproductive experiences and labor roles. Positive comments focus on: - Documentation of women's resistance strategies - Examination of medical and scientific racism - Clear writing style that makes academic content accessible Critical feedback mentions: - Dense academic language in some sections - Repetitive points in certain chapters - Limited geographic scope focused mainly on Barbados and South Carolina Ratings: Goodreads: 4.2/5 (89 ratings) Amazon: 4.5/5 (12 ratings) Sample reader comment: "Morgan's research on slave ships' documentation and planters' records reveals disturbing details about how enslaved women's bodies were commodified, while also highlighting their strength and resistance." - Goodreads reviewer Common criticism: "The theoretical framework sections can be challenging for non-academic readers." - Amazon reviewer

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Soul by Soul by Walter Johnson This study of the New Orleans slave market illuminates how gender shaped the commodification and sale of enslaved people in the domestic slave trade.

Out of the House of Bondage by Thavolia Glymph The book analyzes the violent relationships between Black and white women in plantation households during slavery and Reconstruction.

Birthing a Slave by Marie Jenkins Schwartz This research examines how enslaved women's reproductive lives became battlegrounds between slaveholders' economic interests and women's attempts to maintain control over their own bodies.

🔹 Jennifer Morgan spent over a decade researching this groundbreaking work, visiting archives across multiple continents to uncover previously overlooked documents about enslaved women's lives. 🔹 The book reveals how 17th-century European travel narratives about African women's bodies helped lay the foundation for racial slavery in the Americas by portraying them as especially suited for hard labor. 🔹 Early colonial records showed that enslaved African women in Barbados were often valued higher than enslaved men because they could both work and reproduce, effectively increasing the enslaver's wealth through their children. 🔹 Morgan's research uncovered that enslaved women in the Caribbean and American colonies developed complex networks of knowledge about medicinal plants and childbirth practices, which they passed down through generations. 🔹 The book won the Wesley-Logan Prize from the American Historical Association, which recognizes outstanding scholarship on African diaspora history.