Stolen Childhood: Slave Youth in Nineteenth-Century America

King, a historian at Michigan State University, has researched the lives of children growing up in slavery during the last century. Her sources include personal papers and U.S. government interviews with former slaves, all compiled in the 1930s. Children saw the carefree joys of their younger days fade as the grim boundaries of their lives became apparent. The humiliation and punishment of slaves was often inflicted publicly--a father whipped in front of his son as a salutary lesson to both the boy and the man. Parents could be sold off, losing all contact with their children. King relates how the songs and games of the children came to incorporate this harsh reality.