"In 1835, at the height of the Southern cotton boom, the master class of the Mississipi Delta region had an attack of its worst phobia: fear of slave rebellion. One slaveholder in the countryside saw some of her slaves acting unusually, seeming defiant, appearing to plot. She began to eavesdrop and overheard one slave fantasize about being 'her own mistress.' In another conversation, she caught the word 'kill.' Her son squeezed a slave for information and drew out details of a coming insurrection. The masters sounded the alarm: patrols were instituted, investigators fanned out, the countryside came alive with tipsters."
n+1: Walter Johnson. River of Dark Dreams: Slavery and Empire in the Cotton Kingdom
NYT: King Cotton’s Long Shadow By Walter Johnson
W - Wage slavery
amazon
YouTube: River of Dark Dreams
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