Back of the Big House: The Architecture of Plantation Slavery (Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies)
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.76 (743 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0807844128 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 273 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2015-08-11 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
In a dramatic photographic tour, Vlach leads readers through kitchens, smokehouses, dairies, barns and stables, and overseers' houses, finally reaching the slave quarters. Their subtle acts of appropriation constituted one of the more effective strategies of slave resistance and one that provided a locus for the formation of a distinctive African American culture in the South.Vlach has chosen more than 200 photographs and drawings from the Historic American Buildings Survey--an archive that has been mined many times for its images of the planters' residences but rarely for those of slave dwellings. Behind the "Big Houses" of the antebellum South existed a different world, socially and architecturally, where slaves lived and worked. John Michael Vlach explores the structures and spaces that formed the slaves' environment. To evoke a firsthand sense of what it was like to live and work in these spaces, he includes excerpts from the moving testimonies of former slaves drawn from the Federal Writers' Project collections.. Through photographs and the words of former slaves, he portrays the plantation landscape from the slaves' own point of view.The plantation landscape was chiefly the creat
C. P. Anderson said divided. Half of this book I really liked. That part described the numerous buildings that helped make up a plantation - apart from the manor house itself. It gave me a good feeling for how they were built and what happened in them, and included lots of excellent pictures and diagrams (mostly from WPA work from the 19divided Half of this book I really liked. That part described the numerous buildings that helped make up a plantation - apart from the manor house itself. It gave me a good feeling for how they were built and what happened in them, and included lots of excellent pictures and diagrams (mostly from WPA work from the 1930s and 19divided C. P. Anderson Half of this book I really liked. That part described the numerous buildings that helped make up a plantation - apart from the manor house itself. It gave me a good feeling for how they were built and what happened in them, and included lots of excellent pictures and diagrams (mostly from WPA work from the 1930s and 1940s).The part of the book I didn't like was simply very thin on information. A large part of the book, for example, has Vlach simply describing the buildings picture. 0s).The part of the book I didn't like was simply very thin on information. A large part of the book, for example, has Vlach simply describing the buildings picture. 0s and 19divided C. P. Anderson Half of this book I really liked. That part described the numerous buildings that helped make up a plantation - apart from the manor house itself. It gave me a good feeling for how they were built and what happened in them, and included lots of excellent pictures and diagrams (mostly from WPA work from the 1930s and 1940s).The part of the book I didn't like was simply very thin on information. A large part of the book, for example, has Vlach simply describing the buildings picture. 0s).The part of the book I didn't like was simply very thin on information. A large part of the book, for example, has Vlach simply describing the buildings picture. Excellent Study of Plantation Architecture A Customer John Vlach's book is a thorough study of the architecture of plantation slavery in the South. He primarily used resource materials from the 1930s Historic American Building Survey and WPA interviews with former slaves to develop a social history. The research is solid and comprehensive. Vlach demonstrates ways to interpret the buildings for information about the life of the people who worked and dwelled in them, and he backs up his conclusions with interview materials. It's a terr. grasshopperHistory through Architecture grasshopper4 This study of vernacular architecture is a great contribution to the social history of slavery. By looking at facets of design such as settlement patterns and the formal qualities of buildings, Vlach shows how patterns in material culture provide clues for understanding the patterns of history that one can read by examining the buildings. This remarkable book not only documents plantation architecture as an important contribution to the historical record, but it also provides a fa. said History through Architecture. This study of vernacular architecture is a great contribution to the social history of slavery. By looking at facets of design such as settlement patterns and the formal qualities of buildings, Vlach shows how patterns in material culture provide clues for understanding the patterns of history that one can read by examining the buildings. This remarkable book not only documents plantation architecture as an important contribution to the historical record, but it also provides a fa
The author dispels the Gone with the Wind myth of sterile-white fiefdom and builds an accurate portrayal of plantations as dynamic places that were dominated by the master, yet still influenced by the slaves. From School Library Journal YA-In the past, much study was devoted to antebellum plantation houses and to the planters who erected them. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Frederick, MDCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. Vlach uses interviews with former slaves, photographs, and architectural drawings from the 193