Cover; Contents; Preface; Introduction; 1 The Colonial Period, 1821-1835: ""Texas Must Be a Slave Country""; 2 Slavery in the Texas Revolution, 1835-1836: ""A Dull, Organic Ache""; 3 Growth and Expansion, 1836-1861: ""The Empire State of the South""; 4 The Economics of Slavery in Texas: ""We Want More Slaves, We Need Them""; 5 The Law of Slavery in Texas: ""Negroes Are, in This Country, Prima Facie Slaves""; 6 Work and Responsibility: ""From Can See to Can't See""; 7 Material Conditions and Physical Treatment: ""A Tight Fight""; 8 Family, Religion, and Music: ""The Strength to Endure"
9 Behavioral Patterns and the Desire for Freedom: ""The Best We Could""10 Texas Slaveholders: ""Working Negroes to an Advantage""; 11 A Slaveholding Society: ""Those Who Are Not For Us, Must Be Against Us""; 12 The Civil War and ""Juneteenth, "" 1861-1865: ""Free, Free My Lord""; Conclusions; Appendix 1. The Federal Writers' Project Slave Narratives as a Historical Source; Appendix 2. Slave Populations of Texas Counties in Selected Years, 1837-1864; Appendix 3. County Records as a Source of Information on Slavery in Texas; Appendix 4. Texas' Largest Slaveholders in 1860; Bibliography; Index; A
In the popular mind, Texas conjures up images of the Old West and freedom of the range. Campbell reminds us that Texas grew from Southern roots entangled in human bondage. By the Civil War, Texas had a slave area equal to Alabama and Mississippi and a slave population comparable to Virginia. In the first comprehensive study of slavery in Texas, Campbell offers useful chapters on the law, the domestic slave trade, Indian relations, labor, family, religion, and more, but his book is especially welcome because it pulls the focus on bondage away from the Chesapeake and the Carolinas to show slavery's expansive and adaptive power in the developing West. Slavery knew no bounds, as Lincoln always understood. Recommended for college and university libraries.-- Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia
