Slavery in the Upper Mississippi Valley, 1787-1865 ─ A History of Human Bondage in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin

Although the passage of the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 banned African American slavery in the Upper Mississippi River Vallcy, making the new territory officially "free," slavery in fact persisted in the region through the end of the Civil War.

Slaves accompanied presidential appointees serving as soldeiers or federal officials in the Upper Mississippi, worked in federally supported mines, and openly accompanied southern travelers, Entrepreneurs from the East Coast started pro-slavery riverfront communities in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesora to woo vacationing slavcholders.

Midwestern slaves joined their southern counterparts in suffering family separations, beatings, auctions, and other indignities that accompanied status as chattel. This revealing work explores all facets of the "peculiar institution" in this peculiar location and its impact on the social and political development of the United States.

Christopher P. Lehman is a professor of ethnic studies at St. Cloud State University in St. Clound, Minnesota, and the author of three books about American popular culture.