Interview: Peter H. Wood on "Black Majority: Race, Rice, and Rebellion in South Carolina, 1670-1740"

We chat with author and professor Peter H. Wood about his seminal 1974 book, "Black Majority," which studies Black people during the colonial period of America. It brought forward new ways of looking at the available sources and challenged the ideas that those enslaved were passive and unskilled laborers, showing evidence of their agency over themselves and how their skills, culture, and customs were vital to forwarding the economic success of our nation. The book was recently updated and re-released for its fiftieth anniversary.

Dr. Wood has been teaching students for decades, first at Duke University and now at the University of Colorado-Boulder. He’s also authored and co-authored many books and academic articles.