Slavery is an old and tenacious institution in human society. It is not unknown at present. Nor was it confined in the past to the plantations in the Americas that fed world trade after Europe’s overseas expansion in the 1500s. The practice was widespread in India and accepted and regulated by every regime extant in the region.
Quilombo dos Palmares: Brazil’s Lost Nation of Fugitive Slaves, by Glenn Cheney (2014)
Glenn Cheney’s new book, Quilombo dos Palmares: Brazil’s Lost Nation of Fugitive Slaves, retraces the maroon community’s origins and casts new light upon the lived experiences of its diverse inhabitants.
#Blacklivesmatter Till They Don’t: Slavery’s Lasting Legacy
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 […]