In this brief, fast-paced volume, Strickland offers a much-needed comprehensive account of the under-studied Charleston Workhouse Rebellion of 1849. This slave-led uprising and eventual escape of more than three-dozen slaves triggered new rounds of public debate about control of the city’s enslaved population. The Workhouse facility served multiple purposes—as a place for punishment and short-term imprisonment of the enslaved, as a holding facility for the enslaved craftsmen who hired out, and as a place for slaves to lodge while awaiting sale. The incident, commonly called a “riot” by presiding Charleston authorities, occurred at a critical moment: At that time, Christian paternalists in the Lowcountry were attempting to establish separate worship facilities for slaves, and a large in-migration of Irish workers had recently arrived, creating a white majority in the city. Moreover, Congress and the Charleston press were engaged in ongoing national and local debates about the expansion of slavery.
Strickland...