ASU professor pens op-ed on history of sugar, slavery

Associate professor of history Calvin Schermerhorn has written an op-ed for Virginia’s largest circulating newspaper, “The Virginian-Pilot.” His piece is about the intertwined history of slavery and sugar. He describes the growth of slave trade between states after transatlantic slave trade was outlawed in 1808.

“In the 1830s, the slave trade surged nearly 84 percent from the 1820s,” says Schermerhorn. “Americans were consuming over 12 pounds of sugar each in 1830, and 30 pounds by 1860 (per capita Americans consume 78 pounds today). Louisiana sugar estates more than tripled between 1824 and 1830.”

A very in-depth look at this subject can be found in his book, “The Business of Slavery and the Rise of American Capitalism, 1815-1860,” which was recently published by Yale University Press.