Slavery and Capitalism

Undergraduate / Graduate

What was the relationship between slavery and the industrial revolution? Was slavery capitalist? If slavery was profitable, then why was it abolished? These questions have remained the subject of intense controversy for nearly a century. In this seminar, students will read across disciplines and geographic subfields, putting Black radical historians in conversation with cliometricians and the cotton South next to Brazilian coffee plantations. Throughout the course, we will grapple with the political stakes of these questions and their implications for the modern world. In a final paper, students will develop their own position in the debate and suggest directions for further research.