Scott Heerman, "The Alchemy of Slavery: Human Bondage and Emancipation in the Illinois Country" (U Pennsylvania, 2018)

New Books in American Studies

Scott Heerman is the author of The Alchemy of Slavery: Human Bondage and Emancipation in the Illinois Country, published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2018. The Alchemy of Slavery examines how slavery and emancipation developed in the Illinois Country from the 18th Century through the 19th Century. Drawing on the regions mixed legacies of Native American, French, Spain, English, and eventually American rule, Heerman shows how the deep history of Illinois Country influenced slavery, and set it apart from slavery on the eastern seaboard of North America.

Scott Heerman is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Miami. He studies 18th and 19th century U.S. history, particularly slavery and emancipation.

Derek Litvak is a Ph.D. student in the department of history at the University of Maryland.

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