One mission of
twentieth-
century slave history appears to have been to refute the popular concept, upheld in Southern society
before and after the Civil War, that slaves were "happy" in or otherwise suited to their status. The historiographical strategy has been to look at evidence of the slave period and previous interpretations of it with a view toward correcting the record. This paper examines three articles which refute the pre-
twentieth century misconceptions: Robert William Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman, "The Quality of Slave Labor and Racism" (1974); Eugene Genovese. "The Black Work Ethic" (1974) and Kenneth M. Stampp "A Troublesome Property" (1956).