Slavery and the Northern Economy

When we think of slavery as a strictly Southern institution, we perpetuate a "dangerous fiction," according to historian Christy Clark-Pujara. Avoid the trap with this episode about the role the North played in perpetuating slavery and the truth behind the phrase "slavery built the United States." Join host Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Ph.D., and Learning for Justice, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). (This episode originally aired in Jan. 2018.) Visit the new resource page for this episode (2025), which includes essential ideas from the conversation, teaching recommendations and updated resources. A complete transcript is also included.

You can listen to Slavery and the Northern Economy online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Slavery and the Northern Economy is an episode from Teaching Hard History: American Slavery by Learning for Justice.

This episode is 33:21 long.

This episode was published on Jul 10, 2025.

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