Stolen Childhood: Slave Youth in Nineteenth Century America (Blacks in the Diaspora) - Softcover

King's deeply researched, well-written, passionate study places childrenand young adults at center stage in the North American slave experience. Focusingclosely on age as a variable in slave treatment, she asserts that enslaved childrenhad virtually no childhood because they entered the work place early and were morereadily subjected to arbitrary authority, punishments, and separations. Kingunderscores both the importance of the family as the central institution within theslave community and the tragedies and traumas experienced by slaves young and old.Within the slave economy children performed numerous domestic, agricultural, andindustrial tasks. Though slave youngsters were compelled to labor, they nonethelessenjoyed certain leisure activities, including folk rituals, seasonal celebrations, games, and dances. And despite slavery's oppressive grip, slave parents found waysto educate their children both temporally and spiritually. Such schooling providedsurvival skills, leverages,

"King provides a jarring snapshot of children living in bondage. This compellingly written work is a testament to the strength and resilience of the children and their parents." - Kathleen Hughes, "Booklist". ""Stolen Childhood" is a wonderful book with manifold strengths of research and analysis." - Nell Irvin Painter, "The Journal of Southwest Georgia History". "She [King] takes an enormous step toward filling some of the voids in the literature of slavery..." - Adele Logan Alexander, "Washington Post Book World". "Wilma King has done a service in correcting a major problem in slave history. Her writing style gracefully conveys both the joys and the terrors of youth under slavery." - David Libby, "Southern Historian". "King's deeply researched, well-written, passionate study places children and young adults at center stage in the North American slave experience." - J. D. Smith, "Choice". ""Stolen Childhood" is a welcome addition to the burgeoning literature on the slave experience in the United States." - V. P. Franklin, "History of Education Quarterly". ""Stolen Childhood" mines the major American archives in order to present the ways in which enslaved men and women created a semblance of family life and cultural heritage." - Mary Warner Marien, "Christian Science Monitor". Wilma King argues that childhood was stolen from these children - they were forced into the workplace at an early age, subjected to arbitrary plantation authority and punishment, and were separated from family. King follows the slave child's experience through work, play and leisure, education, socialization, resistance to slavery, and the transition to freedom.