The Book Prize Index

Roll, Jordan, Roll

Eugene Genovese

This landmark history of slavery in the South -- a winner of the Bancroft Prize -- challenged conventional views of slaves by illuminating the many forms of resistance to dehumanization that developed in slave society. Rather than emphasizing the cruelty and degradation of slavery, historian Eugene Genovese investigates the ways that slaves forced their owners to acknowledge their humanity through culture, music, and religion. Not merely passive victims, the slaves in this account actively engaged with the paternalism of slaveholding culture in ways that supported their self-respect and aspirations for freedom.

HistoryAmerican History · medium confidenceAmerican History81 signalsLlm Classifier: American History -> American HistoryKeyword Classifier: American History -> American HistoryTopic Classifier: Slavery & Emancipation -> American HistorySlavery & EmancipationArt, Music & PerformanceReligion & Religious MovementsRegional & Local History

Award History

1 wins · 1 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Bancroft PrizeMajor1975WinnerOfficial source
View all award history (1)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    Slaves were not passive victims; their cultural, musical, and religious resistance compelled slaveholders to acknowledge slaves’ humanity and supported enslaved people’s self-respect and aspirations for freedom.

    Model confidence 75%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    70 / 100 academic

    Academic

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 74%.