Boundaries and Opportunities: Comparing Slave Family Formation in the Antebellum South

@article{Pargas2008BoundariesAO,
  title={Boundaries and Opportunities: Comparing Slave Family Formation in the Antebellum South},
  author={Damian Alan Pargas},
  journal={Journal of Family History},
  year={2008},
  volume={33},
  pages={316 - 345}
}
Our understanding of the marriage strategies and family formation of enslaved people remains clouded by disagreement among contemporary scholars. A perusal of the historical literature suggests that two issues lay at the root of this disagreement: First, scholars disagree over the extent to which slave family life was shaped by the external factors of slavery, or rather slave agency; and second, scholars appear reluctant to abandon their singular views of the slave family. This article… 
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