New England was a place with no cash crops. It was also a place that became known for its strong anti-slavery sentiment during the 19th century. So how did New England also become a place that practiced slavery?
Wendy Warren, an Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University and author of the Pulitzer Prize-finalist book New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America, joins us to explore why New Englanders practiced slavery and just how far back the region’s slave past goes.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.
Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.
Episode Summary
Wendy Warren, an Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University and author of the Pulitzer Prize-finalist book New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America, joins us to explore why New Englanders practiced slavery and just how far back the region’s slave past goes.
As we investigate New England’s slave past, Wendy reveals the origins of the African slave trade and why American colonists preferred enslaved labor to free labor; When and how New England adopted the practice of slavery; And, details about how enslaved people lived and worked in early New England.
What You’ll Discover
- The African Slave trade and its origins
- Why enslaved labor instead of free labor
- The Great Migration to New England, 1620-1640
- When and how New England adopted slavery
- How New Englanders reconciled slavery with their religious beliefs
- How New Englanders practiced slavery
- Number of slaves in late 17th-century/early 18th-century New England
- The lives and work of the enslaved in colonial New England
- Elder care for enslaved men and women in early New England
- Enslaved peoples’ efforts to resist New England slavery
- Development of anti-slavery sentiment in New England
- What it means to research history with little documentation
Links to People, Places, and Publications
- Wendy Warren
- New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America
- David Eltis, The Rise of African Slavery in the Americas
- Margaret Newell, Brethren by Nature: New England Indians, Colonists, and the Origins of American Slavery
- James Scott, Weapons of the Weak: Every Day Forms of Peasant Resistance
- Vincent Brown, The Reaper's Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery
- Karen Kupperman, Providence Island, 1630-1641: The Other Puritan Colony
Sponsor Links
Complementary Episodes
- Episode 064: Brett Rushforth, Native American Slavery in New France
- Episode 083: Jared Hardesty, Unfreedom: Slavery in Colonial Boston
- Episode 104: Andrew Lipman, The Saltwater Frontier: Europeans & Native Americans on the Northeastern Coast
- Episode 118: Christy Pujara-Clark, The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island
- Episode 139: Andrés Reséndez, The Other Slavery: Indian Enslavement in the Americas
- Episode 142: Manisha Sinha, A History of Abolition
- Episode 166: Freedom and the American Revolution

Time Warp Question
In your opinion, what might have happened if New England had found a cash crop and its slave population had been larger? How would the history of slavery in New England, British North America, and the United States have been different?

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