The Slave Trade: Slavery and Color by Theodore D. Jervey (1925)

The Slave Trade: Slavery and Color by Theodore D. Jervey (1925)

Author: Theodore D. Jervey

Year: 1925

Jervey, Theodore D. The Slave Trade: Slavery and Color . Columbia, South Carolina: The State Company, 1925. Historical Context Jervey’s book was published in 1925, at a time when the United States was in the midst of the Jim Crow era. Racial segregation was legally enforced across the South, and the Lost Cause mythology was widely promoted by Southern historians and institutions. Jervey, a South Carolinian himself, seeks to interpret the long history of slavery and race relations in the United States through a Southern, conservative lens—often downplaying slavery’s brutality or justifying its existence on economic and political grounds. The work draws heavily on debates surrounding the U.S. Constitution, the interstate slave trade, and sectional disputes in the decades leading to the Civil War. Jervey also draws on early 20th-century anxieties about racial "purity" and social order, revealing deep-seated white supremacist views that were widespread at the time. Core Issues Presented The book addresses several intertwined issues: the legality and morality of the slave trade, the racial ideology underpinning slavery, and the political compromises made in the U.S. Constitution regardi