Black Hands, White House, Renee K. Harrison
Black Hands, White House, Renee K. Harrison
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Black Hands, White House
Slave Labor and the Making of America

Author: Renee K. Harrison

Narrator: Renee K. Harrison

Unabridged: 18 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/22/2022

Synopsis

Black Hands, White House documents and appraises the role enslaved women and men played in building the US, both its physical and its fiscal infrastructure. The book highlights the material commodities produced by enslaved communities during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. These commodities—namely tobacco, rice, sugar, and cotton, among others—enriched European and US economies; contributed to the material and monetary wealth of the nation's founding fathers, other early European immigrants, and their descendants; and bolstered the wealth of present-day companies founded during the American slave era. Critical to this study are also examples of enslaved laborers' role in building Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and George Washington's Mount Vernon. Subsequently, their labor also constructed the nation's capital city, Federal City (later renamed Washington DC), its seats of governance—the White House and US Capitol—and other federal sites and memorials.

Given the enslaved community's contribution to the US, this work questions the absence of memorials on the National Mall that honor enslaved, Black-bodied people. Harrison argues that such monuments are necessary to redress the nation's historical disregard of Black people and America's role in their forced migration, violent subjugation, and free labor.

About Renee K. Harrison

Renee K. Harrison is an associate professor of African American and US religious history at Howard University. She joined the School of Divinity faculty in the fall of 2010. She is the author of Enslaved Women and the Art of Resistance in Antebellum America and coauthor, with Jennie Knight, of Engaged Teaching in Theology and Religion.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Bob

Summary: A history of how enslaved peoples played a major role in the building of this country and the need to remember that work in our monuments and by other means. A number of histories have detailed the slave experience in America. What is unique about this history is that it seeks to give an acc......more

Goodreads review by YR

A very good book! An excellent historical account of what is not taught in grade school, high school, college, master’s level, or doctoral level, but it should be in every classroom! Growing up, history courses were my least favorite subject. As an adult, Black Hands, White House changed my perspect......more

Goodreads review by Iesha

Wonderful book! Really enjoyed the historical nature of this text and also the stories of the people who were forced into slavery.......more

Goodreads review by Lauren

Harrison has some stellar research in this book that explores how we have the labor infrastructure that we have today. The history is rich. You will find yourself stunned at the statistics of companies still profiting off of the ties to slavery! This is a must read for everyone looking for truth and......more

Goodreads review by Terry

Wow. This was a great find and an interesting read. The author does a fantastic job telling the history of how America was built up by black hands, as per the title. She hits on some of the prominent issues and results from slavery in a well-written way. I enjoyed reading this book and learning some......more

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