"A sweeping, national history of freedom suits in America from the Revolution to the Civil War. Draws from more than 2,000 suits by more than 4,000 plaintiffs, including the largest single collection of contemporary, real-time testimony by enslaved African Americans, as disclosed by their legal counsel, and new sources from county courts across the South. Illuminates the lives of unknown slaves and free persons of color who filed freedom suits. Offers...

"A wide-ranging, powerful, alternative vision of the history of the United States and how the slave-breeding industry shaped it. The American Slave Coast tells the horrific story of how the slavery business in the United States made the reproductive labor of "breeding women" essential to the expansion of the nation. The book shows how slaves' children, and their children's children, were human savings accounts that were the basis of money and credit....