"The 1974 original publication of Blacks in Bondage: Letters of American Slaves marked a watershed in slavery studies. Before it appeared, historians were resigned to studying American slavery mainly through the testimony of white and the distant recollections of blacks who had been free for many years. It took this compilation of documents, gathered by Robert S. Starobin, to convince historians that it was possible to study American slavery from the perspective of blacks living under it or only recently freed. The letters show that, in spite of legal and practical obstacles, many slaves managed to become literate or else desired to, and that slaves given greater autonomy or the hope of freedom always worked more diligently. The spirit of protest is amply evidenced: Included in the collection are depositions of members of the Gabriel Conspiracy of 1800, a plane for a large-scale slave revolt, which was betrayed from within. The letters are grouped according to the status of their authors at the time of composition, for example, slaves seeking to gain their freedom, fugitives, and freedmen living in Liberia. Starobin's commentaries give the writers' backgrounds and guide the reader in interpreting the texts, many of which conceal subtexts full of mockery and defiance." -- publisher's description.