The Universal Consensus Within Twentieth Century History

In a unique approach author David Galenson examines the transition of servants to slaves during the 17th and 18th century of British America. He successfully covers the importance of slavery and the reason for its high demand. Galenson takes into consideration the demographic conditions and its differences throughout the West Indies,

The story that surrounds the transatlantic slave trade is notoriously known, by both young and old, across the nation. This story has not only survived, but thrived as “truth” through generations for several centuries; Although, it is much closer to a mystical tale than reality. In Reversing Sail, Michael Gomez lays the myths affiliated with African Diaspora to rest. Gomez shows the path of the amalgamation of the African people along with their resources into Europe. A path that leads to the New World, that would potentially become the Americas, would ultimately result in more than just the exploitation of Africans as slaves. Compacted into an eight-chapter undergrad textbook, Gomez uses Reversing Sail to unground the history, complexity, and instrumentality of the African Diaspora. He does such in a

Not so long ago few Americans spoke of slavery – which was swept under the rug until the civil rights movement in the 1950s. The shame of slavery gradually rose to public consciousness over the last five decades. Now the topic appears everywhere, in movies, television documentaries and academia. Nearly every major museum has mounted an exhibition on slavery. This issue has become an integral part of the foundation for understanding America’s past. With specific attributes, slavery is distinct from all other forms of oppression, giving it a unique place in human history. Many consider Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) as the best among anti-slavery propaganda that appeared with increasing frequency during the years preceding the Civil War. The primary reason of its appeal is the unsurpassed clarity of Douglass’ writing, which displays his superior sensitivity and intellectual capacity as he addresses the woeful irony of the existence of slavery in a Christian, democratic

Although all this documents stress voices from the Slave Trade, each document sheds a unique light on the much-debated question about who should be held responsible for the tragedy of the Atlantic slave trade. For example, Document 15.1 sheds light on the role of both European and African merchants in the trafficking of slaves as well as the human suffering of the slave trade. However Document 15.2 reveals the cooperation between local African rulers and European and African traders in the slave trade. Moreover, Documents 15.3 focus on how disruptive European traders could be to established African governments, even those that actively opposed the slave trade. And finally, Document 15.4 shows how some African leaders were attached to the slave trade and promoted it even when European were moving to end it. Nonetheless, all the documents do shed a clear and a full light on what should be held responsible for the

“American Slavery, 1619-1877” by Peter Kolchin gives an overview of the practice of slavery in America between 1619 and 1877. From the origins of slavery in the colonial period to the road to its abolition, the book explores the characteristics of slave culture as well as the racial mind-sets and development of the old South’s social structures.

Slavery is a large and very influential part of American history. It has shaped the United States from when the very first slave ship landed in North America in 1619 through the present, even after it was abolished. Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of The United States, and David Kennedy’s The American Pageant both discuss slavery, but they do it in different manners. The approach taken by Zinn to discuss slavery gives a broader view of the hardships faced by the slaves, while Kennedy’s portrayal focuses less on their life and more on the trade itself and its effects on the colonies. The result of these varying methods is that Zinn offers a better view of what slavery was really like than Kennedy.

“The Slave Ship: A Human History” written by Marcus Rediker describes the horrifying experiences of Africans, and captains, and ship crewmen on their journey through the Middle Passage, the water way in the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas. The use of slaves to cultivate crops in the Caribbean and America offered a great economy for the European countries by providing “free” labor and provided immense wealth for the Europeans. Rediker describes the slave migration by saying, “There exists no account of the mechanism for history’s greatest forced migration, which was in many ways the key to an entire phase of globalization” (10). African enslavement to the Americas is the most prominent reason for a complete shift in the

Equiano, on a slave ship towards the West Indies, was on the verge of everlasting bondage. “In this manner we continued to undergo more hardships than I can now relate, hardships which are inseparable from this accursed trade. Many a time we were near suffocation from the want of fresh air, which was often without for whole days together.” (57) The conditions for slaves on these transport ships was horrendous, as those in charge cared little for the well being of these Africans. Equiano was unaware of what was to come, and fear lingered in his memory of this unforgiving experience. He explains the process of the transaction, “We were not many days in the merchant’s custody, before we were sold after their usual manner, which was: On a signal given (as the beat of a drum), the buyers rush at once into the yard where the slaves are confined, and make choice of that parcel they like best.” (58)

Judge Judson could have ruled in their favor if it wasn’t for another pair of sailors, Gedney, and his first mate, Lieutenant Meade whom wanted a reward, for first spotting them off the coast. As a result, Judson decides to refer this incident to the U.S. Circuit Court in Hartford in front of a grand jury; in the mean time the Africans were booked into the New Haven jail. This inquiry over which the enslaved Africans belongs to introduces the Anglo-American and Latin American perspectives advocating the benefits of slavery. However, it also represents the beginning of how the Anglo-American point of view steers away from the benefits of slavery and strives to focus on freedom and human rights.

After discovering the reading of four writers on slavery, I have learned new and exciting information about the institution of slavery. Throughout this paper I intend to inform you of there thoughts and actions and how I perceived them. I also intend to analyze how the lifestyle and upbringing of these writers affected their writing. Being able to uncover what these readings mean has been both challenging and rewarding.

People have ample knowledge when it comes to Transatlantic slavery because it was a long-lasting institution built upon the idea of trading humans in the form of stolen goods through negotiation (Berry Lecture 4). Although textbooks and classroom lectures thoroughly cover the topic of transporting slaves through what would become the Middle Passage, these perspectives fail to report what it felt like to experience the journey firsthand. People’s understanding of the psychological and physical torture negroes were coerced into is limited because slaves were either illiterate or their opinions were invalid. As a result, rare records such as images and texts obtained directly from the slave trade unveil unique

Superficially, The History of Mary Prince documents slavery in the West Indies, adding richly to historical memory of the time period through its firsthand account. At the time of its publication, the genre of the slave narrative was just appearing. The History of Mary Prince, along with other formative texts, shape an important bank of evidence and allow current historians to remember and study slavery in the West Indies with a shred of credibility. Without these texts, the unimaginable pain endured by those brought into the Atlantic slave

Smallwood’s, like Taylor’s, qualitative analysis is based on white sources as none where written by the slaves themselves. However, Smallwood is able to get over this hurdle by comparing her archival findings with the cultural, social, and political features of the societies of the Gold Coast. Interestingly, Smallwood relates the experience of the Middle Passage with African cultural notions of cosmology and funeral rights and rituals. Her approach is refreshing as she is not simply interested in the quantity of slaves brought to market through the middle passage, but rather, she is interested in the experience of the middle passage and how that experience turned Africans into slaves.

Review of Herbert S. Klein, The Atlantic Slave Trade. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Pp. CCXI, 211.

The horrors of the New World Atlantic Slave trade system cannot be expressed in figures along. The humanitarian and cultural losses are staggering. Throughout this period, more than a million and a half died