Economics Faculty Publications
The occupational structure of Southern plantations during the late antebellum era
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
1992
Disciplines
Economics | History | Social and Behavioral Sciences | United States History
Abstract
"The occupational structure of slave labor on plantations yields valuable insights to the economic organization and operations of these large-scale antebellum agricultural businesses. By conveying information about the allocation of slave labor among plantation activities, the occupational structure is direct evidence of the nature and extent of the specialization of labor on plantations. This specialization of labor and the variety of occupations and skills held by plantation slaves has long been noted, but relatively little systematic evidence and empirical analysis of the plantation occupational structure has been provided. This paper presents and analyzes evidence of the plantation slave occupational structure in the late antebellum era from a sample of sixty-eight lists from plantation and probate records[;] the lists pertain to sixty plantations with 4,425 slaves living on them at the time the lists were constructed." (page 137)
Recommended Citation
Olson, J. F. (1992). The occupational structure of Southern plantations during the late antebellum era. In R. W. Fogel and S. L. Engerman (Eds.), Without consent or contract: The rise and fall of American slavery. Technical papers, Volume I: Markets and production (pp. 137-169). New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Comments
Find this book in a library