Exquisite Slaves

Luxury is not usually associated with slavery. But in the colonial Americas, it could be. Sometimes, because some enslaved men and women were tailors and seamstresses, and some of the clothing they created was costly. More often, however, because some enslaved people got their hands on expensive, fashionable clothing.

Historians have begun to tell this story, and few do it better than the young scholar Tamara Walker. In this superb study, Walker tracks down all sorts of sources, written and pictorial, to describe the many ways that enslaved individuals acquired fine clothing in Lima, Peru, a Spanish-American colonial capital renowned… show more.

I have always been intrigued by colonial paintings that show enslaved men and women in luxurious clothing as a testament to the wealth of their masters.

Tamara Walker's history of enslaved people and clothing opened a new world of enslaved people buying, inheriting, and even stealing clothing and jewelry as part of a social language. These men and women were not simply acquiring goods to mimic their betters; they were insisting upon their humanity and their participation in urban life. I was particularly convinced by her argument that enslaved and free Black men were expressing their desires to function as… show more.

We might think that enslaved people in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Peru had no chance to express themselves or assert their dignity as women and men. But we would be wrong! Afro-Peruvian men and women successfully subverted many of the laws and practices designed to subordinate and dehumanize them through dress and self-expression. This is an exciting and historically innovative look at that fascinating world in which the most downtrodden in society found ingenious ways to show who they really were.