In
The Claims of Kinfolk, Dylan Penningroth uncovers an
extensive informal economy of property ownership among slaves and
sheds new light on African American family and community life from
the heyday of plantation slavery to the "freedom generation" of the
1870s. By focusing on relationships among blacks, as well as on the
more familiar struggles between the races, Penningroth exposes a
dynamic process of community and family definition. He also
includes a comparative analysis of slavery and slave property
ownership along the Gold Coast in West Africa, revealing
significant differences between the African and American
contexts.
Property ownership was widespread among slaves across the
antebellum South, as slaves seized the small opportunities for
ownership permitted by their masters. While there was no legal
framework to protect or even recognize slaves' property rights, an
informal system of acknowledgment recognized by both blacks and
whites enabled slaves to mark the boundaries of possession. In
turn, property ownership--and the negotiations it
entailed--influenced and shaped kinship and community ties.
Enriching common notions of slave life, Penningroth reveals how
property ownership engendered conflict as well as solidarity within
black families and communities. Moreover, he demonstrates that
property had less to do with individual legal rights than with
constantly negotiated, extralegal social ties.