A Precarious Balance

€39.90


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Product Information

ISBN9781469689890
AuthorsAntwain K. Hunter
PublisherThe University of North Carolina Press
FormatPaperback
Number of pages320
Weight (kg)0.494
Publishing Date11/11/2025
Price (excl. tax)€37.64
Tax€2.26
Price (incl. tax)€39.90
Availability1 unit in external warehouse

Product Description

Spanning the 1720s through the end of the Civil War, this book explores how free and enslaved Black North Carolinians accessed, possessed, and used firearms—both legal and otherwise—and how the state and white people responded. North Carolinians, whether free or enslaved, Black or white, had different stakes on the issue, all of which impacted the reality of Black people’s gun use. Antwain K. Hunter reveals that armed Black people used firearms for a wide range of purposes: They hunted to feed their families and communities, guarded property, protected crops, and defended maroon communities from outsiders. Further, they resisted the institution of slavery and used guns both against white people and within their own community. Competing views of Black people’s firearm use created social, political, and legal points of contention for different demographics within North Carolina and left the general assembly and white civilians struggling to harness Black people’s armed labor for white people’s benefit. A Precarious Balance challenges readers to rethink how they understand race and firearms in the American past.