HIST 1301
DEHART
Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market
By Walter Johnson
Students will read the book above and turn in a critical book review on Monday, November 25.
I have changed the due date in order to give you more time to read.
You MUST read this book, and to that end, there will be specific due dates where you will show
me your reading notes. It is important to take notes as you read. This will help you organize your
thoughts and make writing the review much easier. The due dates for these reading notes are
below as well as questions to use to guide your comprehension of the different parts of the
book.
A general note: for this book review, do not try to memorize all the names in the book. The most
important aspect of your book is your general comprehension. In other words, think about why
the author is including these examples and what he is trying to prove. FOCUS ON THE BIG
PICTURE.
READING NOTES DUE OVER INTRODUCTION and CHAPTERS ONE AND TWO—
November 4.
Introduction:
􀁸 Who is Walter Johnson?
􀁸 What primary sources does Johnson use?
􀁸 Set the scene—What story is Johnson telling?
􀁸 According to Johnson, why is a focus on the slave pens important to the history of
antebellum slavery?
Chapter 1:
􀁸 What is “the chattel principle”?
􀁸 How does the slave market contradict white southerners’ claim of paternalism?
􀁸 In what ways did slaves resist the slave trade?
Chapter 2:
􀁸 How did traders market slaves?
􀁸 Did they ignore or abolish the humanity of the people they bought and sold? Or, did they
use it to their advantage?
READING NOTES DUE OVER CHAPTERS THREE, FOUR, and FIVE—November 13
Chapter 3:
􀁸 How did owning slaves “make a household white”?
􀁸 How did owning slaves alter white southern males’ identity?
􀁸 What does the author mean by making “freedom out of slavery”?
Chapter 4:
􀁸 How did traders “package” their slaves before market?
READING NOTES DUE FOR CHAPTERS FIVE, SIX, AND EPILOGUE—November
18th
Chapter 5:
􀁸 How have other historians explained the existence of black slavery in America?
􀁸 Does Johnson agree with these explanations? Why or why not?
Chapter 6:
􀁸 Johnson argues that slaves “turned to their own commodification” as a means to resist
their enslavement. How?
􀁸 How did slaves create some sort of agency in the slave market?