The Forgotten History of Britain’s White Slaves in America by Don Jordan and Michael Walsh
“White Cargo is the forgotten story of the thousands of Britons who lived and died in bondage in Britain’s American colonies. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, more than 300,000 people became slaves there in all but name. Urchins were swept up from London’s streets to labor in tobacco fields, where life expectancy was no more than two years. Brothels were raided to provide “breeders” for Virginia. Transported convicts were paraded for sale like livestock.
Drawing on letters crying for help, diaries, and court and government archives, Don Jordan and Michael Walsh demonstrate that the brutalities usually associated with black slavery alone were perpetrated on whites throughout British rule.
The trade ended with American independence, but the British still tried to sell convicts in their former colonies, which prompted one of the most audacious plots in Anglo-American history.
This saga of exploitation and cruelty, which spanned 170 years, has been submerged by the overwhelming memory of black slavery. White Cargo brings the brutal, uncomfortable story to the surface.”
(From the back cover of the book)