Race and Slavery in Colonial Mississippi

The history of racial slavery in Mississippi is inevitably linked to the first Europeans’ attempts to build profitable colonies in the lower Mississippi Valley. The talk highlights the effect that different conceptions of racial complexions had on the establishment of plantations and how competing ideas about race strongly influenced the governance of plantation colonies. The location of the Natchez District enables a unique study of French, British, Spanish, and American legal systems, how enslaved people—especially women—and Natives navigated them, and the consequences of imperial shifts in a small liminal space. The talk is based on Dr. Christian Pinnen’s book Complexion of Empire in Natchez, which won the Book of the Year Award from the Mississippi Historical Society in 2022.

Speakers Expertise:

Dr. Christian Pinnen is an Associate Professor in the Department of History and Political Science. Dr. Pinnen joined MC’s faculty in 2012 and currently teaches U.S. History, History of the Old South, Latin America Survey, the American Revolution, and American Slavery. His research focuses on race and slavery in the Spanish-American borderlands and capitalism in early America. He has published two books in 2019: Complexion of Empire in Natches and Colonial Mississippi. Dr. Pinnen is the recipient of the 2019 Humanities Teacher of the Year award and the 2024 Humanities Scholar Award. His book Complexion of Empire in Natchez received the 2020 Best Book of the Year award from the Mississippi Historical Society.