Professor Jeff and His Undying Passion for the History of Slavery, The South, and Race Relations

Honestly, I had no clue as to who Jeff Forret was prior to his newly released book entitled Williams Gang: A Notorious Slave Trader and His Cargo of Black Convicts landing on my doorstep. So as an enterprising journalist, I did a little research on who this man is. Here’s what I discovered:

• A Professor of History at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas
• An author of several books on Slavery, Race, and the South
• A white guy who knows far more about slavery than I ever will as a Black American

A couple of weeks ago I began pouring through his 482 page book published by Cambridge University Press. And I have to say that it’s pretty damn interesting.

In the book, Jeff explores the legal dynamics associated with a world that is unsympathetic toward enslaved people outside of their value as property. He offers an in-depth look the deeper financial, governmental and societal systems that fueled slavery, allowed it to flourish. All in all the book delivers a scorching account of the exploitation of human beings for capitalistic purposes, a pivotal part of our nation’s history.

I asked Jeff a series of questions about his evolution as a historian and how it informed…