HIS 298: THE SLAVE TRADE AND THE MODERN ATLANTIC WORLD

Spring 2001
Professor: G. Ugo Nwokeji, Rm 233, Wood Hall, tel.: 586-2856, E-Mail: gnwokeji@sp.uconn.edu
Class hours: Time: TuTh 2-3:15 pm; Location: STRS 202
Office hours: Time: TuTh 12:30-1:30, 3:30-5:00, and by appointment

The Atlantic slave trade has been the largest forced migration in history, and provides a framework for understanding the modern Atlantic world, comprising four continents: Africa, Europe, and North and South America. This course is intended to achieve this understanding, and to expose students to the most recent trends in the relevant research. Recent discoveries of fresh data and the application of more sophisticated techniques have happily been matched by a growing willingness of specialists to reach out to a wider audience and apply their research to issues with wider social implications, such as ethnicity, culture formation, and gender. The topics to be covered in this course include the labor situation at the beginning of New World colonization, why Africa supplied New World slave labor, the Middle Passage, the organization of the trade, its demographic structure, abolition, and impact on the societies concerned.

Required Texts

Eltis, David 2000. The Rise of African Slavery in the Americas, New York, Cambridge University Press.

Gomez, Michael 1998. Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South, Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina Press.

                     Northrup, David (editor) 1994. The Atlantic Slave Trade, Toronto, D.C. Heath and Company. Thornton, John 1998. Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World (2nd ed.), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Course requirements

Class participation 30%
Mid-semester exam 20%
One 2,500 word essay (look out for suggested topics) 30%
Final Exam 20%

Week 1. INTRODUCTION

Jan. 25. Introduction

Week 2. Europe, Africa, and the Americas at the Turn of the 15th Century

Jan. 30. Lecture

Feb. 1. Discussion:

Eltis, Eltis, ch. 1: "Slavery and Freedom in the Early Modern World."

Thornton, ch. 1: "The Birth of the Atlantic World."

Week 3. European Colonization and Labor Situation in the New World

Feb. 6. Lecture

Reading: Eltis, ch. 2: "The English, the Dutch, and Transoceanic Migration."

Feb. 8. Map Quiz

Week 4. Why African Labor?

Feb. 13. Lecture

Feb. 15. Discussion:

Eltis, ch. 3: "Europeans and African Slavery in the Americas."

Northrup, ch. 1: "Why were the Africans Enslaved?"

Thornton, ch. 3. "Slavery and African Social Structure."

Week 5. Slaving Pathways from the African Hinterland

Feb. 20. Lecture

Feb. 22. Discussion:

Miller, Way of Death, pp. 3-39, 105-72.

Northrup ch. 3: "Contemporary View of Slaving and Slavers."

Thornton, ch. 4. "The Process of Enslavement."

Week 6. The Triangular Trade: Organization and Institutions of the Trade in Europe and the Americas

Feb. 27. Lecture

March 1. Discsussion:

Eltis ch. 5: "Productivity in the Slave Trade"; ch. 6: "Africa and Europe in the Early Modern

Era."

Week 7. The Gender Structure of the Trade

March 6. Lecture

March 8. Discussion:

Eltis ch. 4: "Gender and Slavery in the Early Modern World."

Week 8. The Middle Passage

March 13. Lecture

Discussion: Gomez, "Talking Half Africa: Middle Passage Seasoning."

Miller ch. 11: "Voyage of No Return."

Northrup, ch. 4: "Modern View of Slavers and Slaving."

March 15. Midterm Exam

Week 9. SPRING BREAK

Week 10. The Ethnic Structure of the Trade and its Implications

March 27. Lecture

March 29. Discussion:

Eltis ch. 9: "Ethnicity in the Early Modern Atlantic World."

Gomez, "Tadās Query."

Thornton ch. 8: "Transformations of African Culture in the Atlantic World."

Week 11. Glimpses into Slavery: Europe, Atlantic Islands, the Caribbean, Latin America, and North America

April 3. Film--Amistad

April 5. Discussion.

Beckels, ch. 2: "Field Women: Beasts of Burden."

Thornton, ch. 5. "Africans in Colonial Atlantic Societies."

Week 12. Abolition and Emancipation

April 10. Lecture

April 12. Discussion:

Northrup ch. 6: "Abolition."

*Essay Due Date

Week 13. Impact of Slavery and the Slave Trade 1: Africa

April 17. Lecture

April 19. Discussion:

Northrup ch. 5: "Effects in Africa."

Week 14. Impact of Slavery and the Slave Trade 2. Europe

April. 24. Lecture

April 26. Discussion:

Darity, "British Industry and the West Indies Plantations." In Inikori and Engerman.

Inikori, "Slavery and ... Textile Production in England." In Inikori and Engerman.

Week 15. Impact of Slavery and the Slave Trade 3: The Americas

May 1. Lecture

May 3. Discussion:

Beckels; Sheridan; and Wright in Solow and Engerman.

Gomez, chs. 4-6.

Thornton, ch. 8. "Transformations of African Culture in the New World."

Week 16: Implications of Slavery for the Contemporary World

May 8. Lecture & Discussion

Reading: Drescher, "The Ending of the Slave Trade and ... European Scientific Racism." In Inikori and Engerman.

King, "On the Meaning and History of slavery." In Tibbles.

Small, "The General Legacy ..." In Tibbles.

Small, "Racist Ideologies." In Tibbles.

SUPPLEMENTARY BIBLIOGRAPHY

Beckles, Hilary McD. 1989. Natural Rebels: A Social History of Enslaved Black Women in Barbados, London, Zed Press. (One of the most informative books on slave resistance and gives much insight to womenās experience under slavery.)

Curtin, Philip D. 1990. The Rise and Fall of the Plantation Complex: Essays in Atlantic History, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. (Particularly relevant to Weeks 2&3 discussions.)

Inikori, Joseph E. and Stanley Engerman (eds.) 1992. The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects on Economies, Societies, and Peoples in Africa, the Americas, and Europe, Durham, N.C., Duke University Press. (A very important book, certainly the most useful on the impact of the slave trade. Rarely does a text examine in so much detail the effects of slavery on Atlantic societies. Particularly good for Weeks 11-14. The chapter by Kipple and Higgins are good for Week 7.)

Klein, Herbert S. 1998. The Atlantic Slave Trade, New York, Cambridge University Press. (A short overview of the slave trade, set in a truly Atlantic context.)

Lovejoy, Paul E. 1983. Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. (Week 4: pp 66-107. This book has many things that a student can look for regarding slavery on the African side and is particularly strong on the impact of the slave trade.)

Manning, Patrick 1990. Slavery and African Life, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. (Week 4: pp. 86-99, Week 11: pp. 38-85. Students should consult this book for insights on methodology. Strong on demography).

                     Miller, Joseph C. 1988. Way of Death: Merchant Capitalism and the Angolan Slave Trade 1730- 1830, Madison, The University of Wisconsin Press. (Weeks 4 &11: A rare, detailed and insightful analysis of the grueling process of enslavement, slaving transactions, and the role of merchant capital.)

Morgan, Philip D. 1998. Slave Counterpoint: Black Culture in the Eighteenth-Century Chesapeake and Lowcountry, Chapel Hill, published by the University of North Carolina Press for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. (Part 3 is relevant to Week 8, and Part 1 is particularly so to Week 9. A central book, which students interested in slave life and work in North America must read.)

Nash, Gary 1992. Red, White, and Black: The Peoples of Early North America (3rd ed.), Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice Hall.

Rodney, Walter 1982. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (with an Introduction by Vincent Harding), Washington, DC., Howard University Press. (This book brings history alive in demonstrating a connection between the slave trade and African underdevelopment. It is a central reading in the impact of the slave trade on Africa.)

Solow, Barbara (ed.) 1991. Slavery and the Rise of the Atlantic System, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. (One of the most comprehensive and intellectually challenging on slavery in the Americas. Students must consult this book, especially for Week 2 lecture and discussion.)

Solow, Barbara and Stanley Engerman (eds.) 1987. British Capitalism and Caribbean Slavery: The Legacy of Eric Williams, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. (Chapters by Inikori, Richardson, and Solow are relevant to Week 12 discussion.)

                     Tibbles, Anthony (ed.) 1994. Transatlantic Slavery: Against Human Dignity, London, HMSO. (An important and readable anthology, dealing with many aspects of the slave trade and slavery. Chapters by Richardson and Stammers are good for Week 5, those by Kolawole and Morgan for Week 6, Walvin for Week 7.)

Williams, Eric 1994. Capitalism and Slavery (with a New Introduction by Collin Palmer), Washington, D.C., Howard University Press. (A starting point for the effect of slavery to Britain -- Week 12.)

 Ps: There is much exciting reading on the subject not included in the above list.