HIST 100 Beyond the Plantation (Spring 2024)

ARTICLES

In Secondary Literature, historians now use "enslaved" instead of slave to reflect the humanity of the individuals held in bondage. Older studies will, however, still use "slave" as a term

For this reason, we use enslaved or enslavement or slaves as search terms. 

For your skilled trade, we'll try "domestic labor" OR "domestic service" OR "household service" OR midwife OR "wet nurse"

Example Search:

(enslaved OR enslavement OR slave*)
and
"domestic labor" OR "domestic service" OR "household service" OR midwife OR "wet nurse"

Books

Using the main library catalog, we'll try a similar search. Limiting to books and ebooks, let's try

(enslaved OR enslavement OR slave*)
and
("domestic labor" OR "domestic service" OR "household service" OR midwife OR "wet nurse" OR "household employees")

Example Search:

NOTE that many of the book titles don't immediately look related to your topic. BUT when you look inside, you'll find chapters and sections about your topic. 

Other books of interest may include An intimate economy : enslaved women, work, and America's domestic slave trade  

NOTE Because your topic is so broad, it may actually be easier to narrow to a specific topic like Wet Nurse or housekeeper

Using primary source collections in our Civil War Era Databases and slavery databases, try basic searches like: 

"negro midwife " OR "slave midwife " OR "Enslaved midwife" OR "black wet nurse" OR "negro wet nurse" OR "slave wet nurse" OR "Enslaved wet nurse" OR "black wet nurse" OR "negro valet" OR "slave valet" OR "Enslaved valet" OR "black valet"

Because your topic has so many options, you'll want to narrow down on a specific job.