Title: Plantation Slavery in the Sunshine State
Product review: Julia Floyd Smith gives an account of the evolution of plantation development in antebellum Florida. We might associate Florida with summer homes instead of slave cabins, but Smith tells us of a slave system firmly planted in the sunshine state, particularly in a cotton belt on the Florida Panhandle. The narrative includes a discussion of the conflict between white landowners and a small but striking community of free people of color.Smith's work is well-written and well-researched. Her style is engaging, her scholarship impressive.Those interested in plantation development in Florida might also consider the essays edited by Jane G. Landers, Colonial Plantations and Economy in Florida. The essays anthologized therein consider much of the period preceding Smith's study.
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