A Tale of Two Plantations: Slave Life and Labor in Jamaica and Virginia

There are many books on the history of slavery. This one stands out as probably the most meticulously detailed account ever. Back in the 1970s, the author came across exceptionally detailed records for Mesopotamia estate (now Barham Farm) in Jamaica from 1762 until Emancipation in 1833 and Mount Airy estate in Virginia from 1808 to Emancipation in 1865. These records included an annual ‘inventory’ of enslaved peoples, by name, age, and occupation as well as records on economic production and correspondence between owners and managers. In the case of Mesopotamia, they also include the reports and correspondence of Moravian missionaries resident on the estate and, for Mount Airy, work logs and shop books. This made it possible for Professor Dunn to construct biographies of many of the approximately 1,000 slaves on each plantation as well as genealogies of their family relationships and, most of all, a quantitative analysis of the demographics of slave life over seven decades, which has been a forty-year project. This book also stands out as a best of very few comparisons of slavery in North America and the Caribbean. The author is a meticulous scholar and he clings tightly to the facts, avoiding speculation, theory, and opinions. His comparison clearly indicates that slavery in Jamaica (and the post-Emancipation period) was very different from Virginia. Mesopotamia experienced a higher rate of mortality and a lower rate of fertility, due to harder labor and poorer nutrition, which required a constant ‘replenishment’ of the labor force with newly acquired slaves, mostly from Africa but sometimes from other estates. One consequence is that, up to Abolition in 1808, the percentage of Africans in the slave force was much higher in Jamaica, so the African influence would be stronger than in Virginia. The economy of the estates differed significantly; while Jamaica produced cane for sugar, rum, and molasses, Virginia grew corn, wheat, peas, hay, oat, rye, and potatoes. Mount Airy had a more mixed economy that included the raising of cattle, pigs, sheep, and horses as well as a fishery, ironworks, and other crafts. The slave population of Mount Airy expanded rapidly; rather than having to continually acquire new slaves to maintain the workforce, it was seeking out additional lands and industries for its expanding population as well as selling off ‘surplus labor.’ One final contrast I would like to note is that the white population in Virginia was much greater, and they were permanent residents, whereas Jamaica had a very small and basically temporary white population – a managerial class – and largely absentee owners. Dunn traces these plantations during the last seventy years before Emancipation, which included Tacky’s Revolt in 1760 and the Christmas Rebellion of 1831 in Jamaica, and the Civil War in the US. Personally, the most interesting part of the book for me was his account of the Moravian missionaries resident at Mesopotamia throughout the period under study. An additional feature of note is the remarkable companion website at twoplantations.com. Finally, I should say that this book is well organized and clearly written. But, given the level of detail, it will be appreciated more by scholars than by the casual reader.

I traced two of my great great grandparents back to the Mount Airy Virginia plantation. It's amazing to learn the names of my Great Great Grandfather Albert's family before he was sent to Alabama. I had been trying on Ancestry.com to trace my last name back as far as I could and can now take the name Wormley back to my 4th great grandparents.He was one of the great grandchildren of Franky Yeatman. Making her my 5th great grandmother. William Page, one of the grandchildren of Sally Thurston who was sent to Alabama. Years later had a son named Prince who then had a daughter named Kitty. The great great grandaughter of Sally Thurston. Making Sally my 6th great grandmother. My great great grandmother Kitty was born in alabama and married my great great grand father Albert in Alabama, 1887.

One of those rare moments when one examines a book and says "Wow. He's still got it."Richard Dunn has been an icon of historical scholarship since most of us were barely imagining a productive career as professional students of the historical past. Yet more than half a century into his career, he produces a work that is fresh, reasoned, brilliant, current. We're lucky to live in a moment when this magisterial work arrives. Dunn's study, based on painstaking research and a brilliant, analytical mind reminds us of the importance of archival research, of digging beyond the easy into the possible. It is an important work that should be on the shelves, on the desk, of anyone who wants to gain a comprehension of the roots of our racial past. A tour de force.

Interesting and overly thorough, Dunn's work is appreciated but not as useful as it could be if he had analyzed rather than exhaustively recounted every detail. The reader can't help but get lost in the over abundance of names and numbers, unfortunately hampering what Dunn set out to do. Rather than give life to the sorties of the Mount Aire and Mesopotamian slaves, Dunn's inability to cut or compress drowns out their stores in a sea of details. Still, it is clear this is a work of passion from a man determined to tell the story of these slaves. One will learn quite a bit about slave life in bothering regions if one is able to wade through all the "extra" material.

Excellent resource for my use to tell the background story of a painting of slave trade on Potomac River. Lots of leads for further research. The stories help me to understand the life and time of slave and master, commodity and person within the Tayloe community.

Absolutely mind-blowing work. Meticulously researched and a really important story.

This is a very well written and researched book on a tough topic. The cold bare facts of slavery are revealed in both Jamaica and Virginia and their voices come alive.

Still reading it. Interesting