Chapter 6 Exercises: Slavery in the Mountains — The Hidden History of Black Appalachia

Individual Exercises

Exercise 6.1 — Census Data Analysis: The Numbers Don't Lie (†) Access the 1860 census data for three Appalachian counties in different states (use the University of Virginia's Historical Census Browser or the National Archives). For each county, record: (a) total population, (b) enslaved population, (c) percentage enslaved, (d) free Black population. Present the data in a table. Then write 500 words analyzing the results. Were you surprised by the numbers? How do these three counties compare to each other, and how do they compare to the Deep South? What does the data tell you about the "no slavery in Appalachia" myth?

Exercise 6.2 — Primary Source Analysis: WPA Slave Narratives Read at least two WPA Slave Narrative interviews from Appalachian states (Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, or Kentucky — available online through the Library of Congress). In 500 words, analyze the narratives as historical sources. What do the narrators describe about their experience? What specific details do they provide about the kind of work they did, the conditions they lived in, and the relationships they had with their enslavers? What are the limitations of these sources — how might the age of the interviewees, the race of the interviewers, and the time elapsed since slavery affect what was recorded?

Exercise 6.3 — The Slave Hiring System In 400 words, explain the slave hiring system as it operated in Appalachia. How did it work? Who benefited from it? What were the consequences for the enslaved people who were hired out? Why was the hiring system particularly important in the context of mountain slavery, where individual slaveholders often did not need year-round labor?

Exercise 6.4 — Mapping Mountain Slavery (†) Using the 1860 census data, create a simple map (hand-drawn or digital) showing the enslaved population as a percentage of total population for at least ten Appalachian counties across the region. Use different shadings or symbols to indicate ranges (0–5%, 5–15%, 15–25%, 25%+). Write 300 words describing the geographic pattern you observe. Where is slavery most concentrated? Where is it least concentrated? What geographic, economic, or political factors might explain the pattern?

Exercise 6.5 — The "No Slavery" Myth: Tracing an Erasure Research a specific Appalachian county's local historical narrative — look at county history books, local historical society publications, heritage tourism materials, or local museum exhibits. Does the narrative mention slavery? If so, how is it characterized? If not, what is the silence doing? Write 500 words analyzing the narrative choices: what is included, what is omitted, and whose interests are served by the version of history that is presented.

Exercise 6.6 — Comparative Analysis: Mountain vs. Plantation Slavery In 500 words, compare the experience of an enslaved person on a small Appalachian farm (1–3 enslaved people) with the experience of an enslaved person on a large cotton plantation (50+ enslaved people). What were the specific advantages and disadvantages of each setting from the perspective of the enslaved person? Be careful to avoid the trap of arguing that one form of slavery was "better" — instead, analyze the specific constraints and possibilities of each setting.

Group Exercises

Exercise 6.7 — The Myth on Trial Stage a structured debate. One team argues the traditional position: "Slavery was marginal to Appalachian life and culture, and the region's history is fundamentally different from the plantation South." The other team argues the chapter's position: "Slavery was present, consequential, and central to the economic and social order of Appalachian communities, and its erasure is a deliberate historical construction." Each team has 15 minutes to present its case, using evidence from the chapter and from independent research. After the debate, the class discusses: what makes the "marginal" argument so persistent, even when the evidence contradicts it? What emotional, psychological, and political functions does the myth serve?

Exercise 6.8 — Reading Estate Inventories Working in groups of three to four, examine a reproduction or transcription of an estate inventory from an Appalachian county that includes enslaved people (many are available through state archive websites and genealogical collections). Note: (a) how the enslaved people are listed (by name? by age? by sex? by estimated monetary value?), (b) what other property is listed alongside them, (c) what the total value of the enslaved people represents as a proportion of the estate's total value. As a group, discuss: what does it feel like to read a document that records human beings as property? What can this document tell us that the census cannot? What can it not tell us?

Exercise 6.9 — Reconstructing a Life As a group, select one enslaved person who appears by name in available records from an Appalachian county (estate inventories, court records, and occasionally church records contain names). Using every available source — census schedules, slaveholder records, local histories, genealogical databases — try to reconstruct as much of this person's life as possible. Where did they live? Who were their family members? What kind of work did they likely do? What happened to them after emancipation (if applicable)? Present your findings to the class. What were the limits of your research? What questions could you not answer?

Writing Prompts

Short Response (300–400 words): The chapter argues that the erasure of Black Appalachian history is "not a passive oversight" but "an active process that has served specific interests." Identify at least three specific interests that the erasure serves, and explain how the "no slavery" myth benefits each one. Then reflect: is the erasure still happening today? Where do you see it?

Essay (700–1,000 words): The historian Wilma Dunaway argues that the small scale of mountain slavery actually made some aspects of slavery worse, not better — particularly family separation and social isolation. Evaluate this argument using evidence from the chapter and from at least one additional source. Does the "small scale = milder" assumption hold up under scrutiny? What does the assumption reveal about how we think about slavery?

Reflection (200–300 words): Before reading this chapter, what did you believe about slavery in Appalachia? Has the chapter changed your understanding? If so, what specific evidence was most persuasive? If not, what questions remain? Write honestly about your own encounter with this material.

Whose Story Is Missing? Prompt

Exercise 6.10 — The Women The chapter discusses slavery in Appalachia primarily in terms of labor and economics. But the experience of enslaved women was distinct from that of enslaved men — shaped by the additional burdens of sexual vulnerability, pregnancy, childbearing, and the particular agony of having children who were legally the property of another person. Research the experience of enslaved women in the mountain South, using at least two sources (Wilma Dunaway's work is a good starting point). Write 400 words about the aspects of enslaved women's experience that are missing from most accounts of mountain slavery — and why those aspects are missing.

Community History Portfolio Integration

Exercise 6.11 — Connecting Slavery to Your County's History Building on the Chapter 6 portfolio checkpoint (researching slaveholding in your county using census records), write 300 words connecting your findings to the chapter's broader arguments. Does your county's data support or complicate the "no slavery" myth? What questions about your county's enslaved population remain unanswered? Identify at least one avenue of further research — a specific archive, a specific type of record, a specific family name — that might help you learn more.

(† = Exercises marked with † are referenced in the answers appendix.)