Cotton production in the us. Multiplies 500 fold, from four million pounds a year to two billion. The labor of enslaved black people makes it all possible. Even if white america is entirely ungrateful, and always will be, the market of the nineteenth century does grasp the value of enslaved workers.
In the decades after America’s founding and the establishment of the Constitution, did the nation get better, more just, more democratic? Or did it double down on violent conquest and exploitation?
Reported, produced, written, and mixed by John Biewen, with series collaborator Chenjerai Kumanyika. The series editor is Loretta Williams. Interviews with Robin Alario, Edward Baptist, Kidada Williams, and Keri Leigh Merritt.
Music by Algiers, John Erik Kaada, Eric Neveux, and Lucas Biewen. Music consulting and production help from Joe Augustine of Narrative Music.