Atlantic Slavery

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course will introduce students to the main topics, themes, and debates in Atlantic history, focusing on Spanish and Portuguese America and the Caribbean. It will begin with an overview of slavery and other legal and labor systems in West Africa and the Americas, and then examine how and why the Portuguese and Spanish entered into a slaving trade in West Africa, and what ensued from contact with the American hemisphere after 1492. We will end with abolition and emancipation in the Americas. Along the way we will examine the rise and fall of “Indian” slavery, the cultural meanings of Blackness, the labor and economic conditions in urban settings as well as on rural plantations, and the strategies that enslaved people used to negotiate living conditions and achieve freedom. We will also pay careful attention to different kinds of resistance, including the formation of stable palenques of those who escaped slavery and a variety of rebellions, including the successful Haitian Revolution. Weekly readings will include modern accounts and historical documents. Assignments will predominantly be medium-length (5-7 pages) essays using primary sources and one exercise using the TransAtlantic Slave Trade Database. We also hope to utilize the collections at the Raclin Murphy Art Museum.