We are appalled by these deaths. But we are equally appalled by our ability to make sense of them. We live embedded in the afterlife of slavery. We are a nation that has failed to grapple with our past.
Slavery in America: Back in the Headlines
People think they know everything about slavery in the United States, but they don’t.
Andrew Cox Marshall: Between Slavery and Freedom in Savannah
By Tania Sammons This essay is reproduced from the book we are featuring this month, Slavery and Freedom in Savannah, edited by Daina Ramey Berry and Leslie Harris. If you would like to know more about the book and especially about the sidebars that feature short essays on interesting figures and events related to the […]
More to Read on Urban Slavery
The Urban world made by slaves in the US South and the Atlantic.
Slavery and Freedom in Savannah
Savannah is a prime location for understanding the centrality of slavery and race to the national and world economy, and the importance of the city to southern landscapes and the southern economy.
A Riot for Rights: Gabriel Prosser’s Slave Revolt
Kristina Delagarza Hector Garcia Middle School Junior Division Individual Website In August of 1800, Gabriel Prosser, an enslaved blacksmith from a Virginia tobacco plantation, organized a group of about 25 slaves to violently rise up against their masters–and then build an army. But, as was the case with so many slave rebellions, Prosser was betrayed […]
Show & Tell: The Video Essay as History Assignment
As we come to the end of the school year, we end our series of monthly features on teaching history with a creative assignment devised by one of our US History professors. Instead of assigning only written or oral work, Robert Olwell was one of a handful of History faculty who asked their students to make video essays on specific topics related to the course.
Faubourg Treme: Fighting for Civil Rights in 19th Century New Orleans
Ahnia Leary Pin Oak Middle School Junior Division Individual Performance Read Ahnia’s Process Paper Treme is one of the most iconic neighborhoods in New Orleans. Its dynamic history, culture and music even inspired a critically acclaimed HBO drama. Ahnia Leary wanted to present the story of this vibrant section of the Big Easy for Texas History Day, particularly its long history of racial tension […]
David’s Mighty Stone: How One Slave Laborer Restored Survivors’ Rights
Kacey Manlove Rockport Fulton High School Senior Division Historical Paper Read Kacey’s Paper Here Nazi Germany was not only responsible for death and violence across Europe. The Third Reich also enslaved millions in their factories. In particular, the German industrial giant I.G. Farben, which produced the Zyklon B that murdered so many during the holocaust, […]
Mapping The Slave Trade: The New Archive (No. 10)
by Henry Wiencek Roughly 12 million Africans were forcibly transported to Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Americas. It’s hard to conceptualize so many men and women being uprooted from their homes. But Emory University’s Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database helps users understand the vast proportions of this perverse exodus. The site pieces together historical data […]