A Good Master Well Served: Masters and Servants in Colonial Massachusetts, 1620-1750 / Edition 1

by Lawrence William Towner

Overview

First published in 1998. Early American historians are finding connections between the bonded status of African American slaves, European indentured servants, convicts, and sailors. An excellent starting point for this inquiry is this neglected classic by Lawrence Towner, former head of the Newberry Library in Chicago and editor of the William and Mary Quarterly . This comprehensive study of the lives and experiences of bonded laborers in colonial Massachusetts demonstrates the full sweep of their work and aspirations. Towner analyzes the legal status of all varieties of black and white bonded laborers. He explores their living and working conditions and discusses the cultural significance of work in their lives. The book also address gender issues in bonded labor. The author's approach provides a new understanding of the experiences of black and white workers in early America, and corrects a long-standing neglect of blacks in previous research. This edition makes this important work available in print for the first time, and includes an introductory essay by Alfred F. Young, Dissertations and Gatekeepers: Why it took45 Years for a Ph.D. Thesis to be Published.
(Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University; 1954)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138975323
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/30/2020
Series:	Studies in African American History and Culture
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

"Dissertations and Gatekeepers: Why it Took Forty-Five Years for a Ph.D. Thesis to Be Published vii

Abbreviations xxxiii

1 Factors Influencing Conditions of Labor and the Institution of Servitude 3

2 The Servant Elite; Apprentices and Indentured Servants 23

3 The Poor as a Source of Bound Labor 51

4 The Servant Lower Classes: Debtors, War Prisoners, Criminals, Indians and Negroes 77

5 The Servant at Work 103

6 The Servant's Leisure Time 125

7 The Servant Protests 163

8 The Runaway Servant 195

9 Conclusion 219

Bibliography 229

Index 247