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Fred W. Morrison Series in Southern Studies
Back of the Big House: The Architecture of Plantation Slavery
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. 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 creation of slaveholders, but Vlach argues convincingly that slaves imbued this landscape with their own meanings. 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. In a dramatic photographic tour, Vlach leads readers through kitchens, smokehouses, dairies, barns and stables, and overseers' houses, finally reaching the slave quarters. 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.
The plantation landscape was chiefly the creation of slaveholders, but Vlach argues convincingly that slaves imbued this landscape with their own meanings. 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. In a dramatic photographic tour, Vlach leads readers through kitchens, smokehouses, dairies, barns and stables, and overseers' houses, finally reaching the slave quarters. 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.
278 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 10, 2016
Back of the Big House was a really awesome account of the architecture of plantation slavery. The book shows how slaves were able to carve out a section of the plantation for their own private lives. It's also interesting to note how the homes were constructed based on the owner's wealth and what part of the country the plantation was in. Virginia is very different then Alabama. This book is great for anyone combing through pre-civil war life and architecture.
November 29, 2011
This would be fascinating even if there was no text, because the images are great. Vlach combed the historic buildings survey to find lots and lots of photos of buildings that predate the Civil War, and give the reader some sense of what life was like on large plantations. These work really well at allowing the reader to really get deeper into spacial relations and how race relations and spacial relations affected each other. What did the layout of the plantation say about the plantation owner and his or her attitude about slavery, and what did the layout mean for the slaves' experiences? There is a lot to ponder here.
One thing to note though, is that Vlach is really only considering big plantations here. He justifies this by noting that most slaves worked on big plantations, but there were lots of slaves who did not, and we don't get anything here of their history. I also became more and more curious as the book went on about how buildings and space and relationships changed over the decades AFTER the Civil War. On almost all these landscapes, black people and white people continued to live with and deal with each other after slavery ended. I think Vlach too often writes as if these photos were taken in 1860, when they were really taken in 1930. A lot can change in 70 years. Buildings can be moved, for one thing. Landscapes can be altered in drastic, but also in subtle ways. In cases like this we need to be really careful that we do not look at any landscape and treat it as if it was frozen in time.
One thing to note though, is that Vlach is really only considering big plantations here. He justifies this by noting that most slaves worked on big plantations, but there were lots of slaves who did not, and we don't get anything here of their history. I also became more and more curious as the book went on about how buildings and space and relationships changed over the decades AFTER the Civil War. On almost all these landscapes, black people and white people continued to live with and deal with each other after slavery ended. I think Vlach too often writes as if these photos were taken in 1860, when they were really taken in 1930. A lot can change in 70 years. Buildings can be moved, for one thing. Landscapes can be altered in drastic, but also in subtle ways. In cases like this we need to be really careful that we do not look at any landscape and treat it as if it was frozen in time.
March 27, 2014
Incredibly comprehensive and in-depth text about the overall structure and architecture, the lay of the land so to speak, of plantations mostly in the Southern United States, including Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, North and South Carolina, and others. It goes into an incredible amount of detail with the most important buildings on a plantation apart from the Big House, which is where the master would live, and it was designed to resemble a palatial mansion (although not from the get-go, interestingly). From slave quarters to smokehouses, barns, dairies, yards, and every other significant structure on a plantation, the author goes into diligent detail about each of them. This book also includes relevant photographs, as well as elevations and floor plans that were incredibly useful to see.
January 7, 2009
I agree with the person below it didn't tie into a "bigger picture thought" but I don't think it was meant to be. I am impressed with all the work that went into this book with the photos,blueprints and slave rememberences.
This is certainly a side of the "Glorious South" that isn't written about much and I learned a lot.
This is certainly a side of the "Glorious South" that isn't written about much and I learned a lot.
August 24, 2015
An excellent resource on the work buildings and slave quarters of the Southern plantations. Just don't expect to find much information in the way of people, Vlatch got distracted by the material culture and forgot them. According to the Acknowledgements, his wife apparently had the same sentiments and wished that he had dedicated a book in her honor that was about people.
March 27, 2008
Good idea, some nice stories and some nice evidence. Doesn't manage to pull it together into a bigger point. But if you want to work through it all and extrapolate there is some good stuff in there.
July 22, 2011
Pretty detailed subject material. Contains many architectural drawings and photos of slave cabins. Pretty good insight into the living conditions of slaves.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews