Aaron Hall

American slavery was a collective project organized through public authority. My research recovers how state power constituted slaveowners’ private authority and guided where, when and how enslaved life and labor unfolded. Slave states mobilized the institution to build infrastructure and pursued a “state interest” defined by its security and profitability. “The Public Institution” draws out this submerged history of American slavery, one that can foster consideration of responsibilities and legacies beyond a framework of private individuals.