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The Slave Community: Plantation Life in the Antebellum South is a book written by historian John W. Blassingame. Published in 1972, it is one of the first historiographies of slavery in the United States to be presented from the perspective of the enslaved. The Slave Community is a revisionist study challenging previous scholarship that suggests African American slaves were docile and submissive "Sambos" who enjoyed the benefits of a paternalistic master-slave relationship on southern plantations. Using psychology, Blassingame analyzes fugitive slave narratives published in the 19th century to conclude that an independent culture developed among the enslaved and that there were a variety of personality types exhibited by slaves other than the Sambo.Although the importance of The Slave Community was recognized by scholars of American slavery, Blassingame's conclusions, methodology, and sources were heavily criticized. Historians critiqued the use of slave narratives that were seen as unreliable and biased. More...