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Sugar, Tobacco, Rice, and Cotton – Cash Crops and American Slavery: A Four Part Course with Ben Rubin

Sugar, Tobacco, Rice, and Cotton – Cash Crops and American Slavery: A Four Part Course with Ben Rubin


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Can't make this time? A video recording will be sent to all participants after each event.

This course traces the history of slavery in America from the origins of the slave trade through emancipation, by looking at the four major cash crops that molded it: sugar, tobacco, rice, and cotton. In each discussion, we will examine how the biology, geography, and economics of each plant defined the conditions under which some of the worst atrocities and most exploitative labor systems in human history were able to thrive. We will explore the varied ways in which each plant defined slave societies and the slave experience. And we will examine how each society inadvertently also created spaces for slave agency and resistance.

Led by an expert on colonial America, this Conversation will explore the deep ties between environment, economics, and exploitation. Designed to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with an increased understanding of the complexity and diversity of the slave experience in America.

This series of seminars is designed to be enjoyed as a four-part course, please review the lecture descriptions below for a further course outline.

Lecture 1 – Sugar: 

The birthplace of the plantation complex was in the cane fields of the Caribbean, South America, and the Gulf Coast of the United States. Here millions of human beings were made into expendable resources to feed Europe's insatiable demand for sweetness. Yet even in what was arguably the institution's most horrific form, slaves still found ways to express their humanity and build vibrant creole cultures in the New World.

Lecture 2 – Tobacco:

In 1619 the first slaves arrived in Virginia, imported to cultivate a plant that was fast becoming a brand new European obsession. The work was intensive, time-consuming, and required significant skill. Over time this cadre of slaves in the upper south would form the core of one of the most enduring systems of forced labor exploitation the world had ever seen, the American plantation system. 

Lecture 3 – Rice: 

In the Deep South, it was rice that reigned supreme and made colonial planters into the wealthiest men in America, built not just on African labor but on African technologies. Like tobacco and sugar, rice cultivation defined the experience of Carolina slaves and built a society that despite its cruelty and deeply embedded racism, provided its Black population with more agency than any other.

Lecture 4 – Cotton: 

At the end of the 18th century, a new crop transformed American slavery. It leads not just to new forms of labor exploitation but driving westward expansion and mass forced migration, and ultimately sowing the seeds of slavery's eventual destruction.

Ben Rubin is a public historian specializing in the American Revolution and Early America. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, he holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Political Science from Hanover College, a Master’s in American History from Western Carolina University, and is a Ph.D. candidate in History and Culture at Drew University, as well a graduate of the School of Criticism and Theory at Cornell University. Ben taught history and writing at Bloomfield College for five years before leaving academia to start his own music education business, JC Instrumental. He continues to work in public history with Context Travel, leading both in-person walking tours and virtual conversations on early American history, and at Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution, where he has been a fellow since 2007. His work has been published in both academic and public history journals, and you can hear him most recently as a featured guest on the History Happy Hour podcast. He currently lives in Jersey City, New Jersey with his wife Dana, daughter Sylvie, and dog Oslo, and spends his free time playing music, rock climbing, playing board games, and following Cincinnati Reds baseball.

How does it work?

This is a four-part course held weekly and hosted on Zoom. Please check the schedule above for the specific dates and times for each lecture.

When will I receive the Zoom link?

The link used to enter your Zoom room will be the same for each lecture in the course. It will be sent to the email address that was used to place your order 30 minutes prior to each session's start time.

Is there a reading list?

Though the course is open to participants with no background on this topic, there will be suggested readings made available for further investigation. These will be provided to all participants at the course's conclusion.

How long are the lectures?

Each lecture is 90 minutes long with time included for Q&A.

How much is the course?

The course is $140 USD for four lectures.

Is a recording available?

Yes. All registered participants will be sent a recording within 48 hours of each event's conclusion.

This conversation is suitable for all ages.

90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.

Customer Reviews

Based on 13 reviews
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(13)
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A
A. (Orinda, US)

Guest did not leave comment

F
F. (Highlands, US)

Organized by crop, this four part class begins with the discrete requirements of each plant’s cultivation. Each requires different labor systems to plant, cultivate and harvest.

F
F. (Highlands, US)
A new point of view of slavery by crop!

Organized by crop, this four part class begins with the discrete requirements of each plant’s cultivation. Each requires different labor systems to plant, cultivate and harvest.

S
S.S. (Oxford, US)
Slavery - cotton

I like ben Ruben's arrangement of this talk! - breaking it down to economics!! I missed the first of this one on "Cotton" and am so looking forward to the recording!

K
K.E. (Ehningen, DE)
Cashing in with "King Cotton"

In concluding this four-part course, Ben Rubin provided a comprehensive overview of the rise of "King Cotton" in the US in the late 1700s and the first half of the 1800s, its impact on the burgeoning slave trade in the South, and the corresponding growth of the Abolitionist movement in the North.

Customer Reviews

Based on 13 reviews
100%
(13)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
A
A. (Orinda, US)

Guest did not leave comment

F
F. (Highlands, US)

Organized by crop, this four part class begins with the discrete requirements of each plant’s cultivation. Each requires different labor systems to plant, cultivate and harvest.

F
F. (Highlands, US)
A new point of view of slavery by crop!

Organized by crop, this four part class begins with the discrete requirements of each plant’s cultivation. Each requires different labor systems to plant, cultivate and harvest.

S
S.S. (Oxford, US)
Slavery - cotton

I like ben Ruben's arrangement of this talk! - breaking it down to economics!! I missed the first of this one on "Cotton" and am so looking forward to the recording!

K
K.E. (Ehningen, DE)
Cashing in with "King Cotton"

In concluding this four-part course, Ben Rubin provided a comprehensive overview of the rise of "King Cotton" in the US in the late 1700s and the first half of the 1800s, its impact on the burgeoning slave trade in the South, and the corresponding growth of the Abolitionist movement in the North.