Slave Labor on Virginia's Blue Ridge Railroad
Published on 30. March 2020
149 pages
978-1-4396-6947-1 (ISBN)
Description
Between 1849 and 1859, Virginia raced to pierce the Blue Ridge Mountains by rail and reach the Ohio River. At least 300 enslaved people labored involuntarily toward that goal, along with 1,500 Irish immigrants. The state leased the labor of enslaved Virginians from local slaveholders, including four connected with nearby University of Virginia. Blue Ridge Tunnel and Blue Ridge Railroad historian Mary E. Lyons explored hundreds of primary documents to write the first nonfiction book about slave labor on a specific antebellum railroad. She shares hundreds of enslaved people's names, traces where they toiled along the line and describes their backbreaking--and sometimes fatal--tasks.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Mary E. Lyons
Slave Labor on Virginia's Blue Ridge Railroad
Book
03/2020
History Press
€21.00
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
Mary E. Lyons has written nineteen award-winning books for young readers about slavery, the Irish famine and the ancient American world. Most recently, she is the author of The Blue Ridge Tunnel: A Remarkable Engineering Feat in Antebellum Virginia and The Virginia Blue Ridge Railroad, both published by The History Press. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband, Paul.
Content
- Intro
- Half Page
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1. 1849-50
- In the Heat of the Summer
- A Prejudice against Railroads
- 2. 1851-52
- The Force Employed
- Debts Incurred for the Hire of Negroes
- 3. 1853
- Rented Like a Horse
- Section Sixteen
- Economy of Progress
- 4. 1854
- Masters of Their Masters
- Blanket and Hat
- Poor Fellows
- I Had Him Buried
- Mysterious Disease
- 5. 1855-56
- I Regret That We Did Not Hire Negroes
- Wade in Blood
- Cruel and Brutal Acts
- 6. 1857-58
- For the Board of Negroes
- Fatal Consequences
- 7. 1859-65
- Ball of Fire
- Run Off to the Enemy
- 8. 1866-95
- Alike as Two Peas
- Servile Insurrection
- 9. 1939-2008
- I'll Tell You Straight
- Epilogue
- Appendix 1. Transcript of Farrow-Hansbrough Contract
- Appendix 2. Williams Obituaries
- Appendix 3. Sections, Contractors and Labor Force
- Appendix 4. Names of Enslaved Laborers
- Notes
- About the Author
