Resources for the Study of Slavery and its Legacy

First-person narratives written by formerly enslaved peoples can be found throughout the collection. These life histories stretch from the interior of Africa to the islands of the Caribbean and beyond.

•    Mary Prince, The history of Mary Prince, a West Indian slave, London, 1831 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Letters of the late Ignatius Sancho, an African, London, 1782 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Olaudah Equiano, The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, London, 1789 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Vida de JJ Dessalines, gefe de los negros de Santo Domingo…, Mexico, 1806 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]

The documents selected here highlight the conflict between the supposed 'economic advantages' of slavery and the moral, political and religious arguments against this terrible crime, in the United States and beyond.

•    Malachy Postlethwayt, The national and private advantages of the African trade considered being an enquiry…, London, 1746 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Anthony Benezet, A Caution to Great Britain and her colonies, in a short representation of the calamitous state of the enslaved Negroes in the British dominions, London, 1767 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Thomas Clarkson, An essay on the impolicy of the African slave trade…, London, 1788 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    William Wilberforce, A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade…, London, 1807 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Abridgement of the Minutes of the Evidence taken before a Committee of the Whole House, London, 1789 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Substance of the debates on a resolution for abolishing the slave trade..., London, 1806 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Samuel Hopkins, A dialogue, concerning the slavery of the Africans;..Norwich, Connecticut, 1776 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Isidro de Antillón, Disertacion sobre el origen de la esclavitud de los negros..., Mallorca, 1811 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Don Francisco Arias de Villaruel, Contador disputado de la aueria de la Real Audiencia, y casa de la contratacion de las Indias, que reside en la ciudad de Sevilla por Su Magestad,… [Seville, 1667-1672] [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    José Blanco White, Bosquexo del comercio en esclavos: : y reflexiones sobre este tráfico considerado moral, politica, y cristianamente, London, 1814 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Société des amis des noirs, Réflexions sur le code noir, et dénonciation d'un crime affreux, commis a Saint-Domingue…Paris, 1790 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]

Maps are invaluable primary sources that provide detail about where slavery took shape and existed across a wide array of geographic settings: towns and cities, colonies, ports, hinterlands and plantations. In often surprising ways, maps and other graphic material such as prints and portraits can also show us how enslaved peoples dressed, worked, ate, moved around and lived in communities. They can offer us suggestions of how enslaved people revolted, where they went when they did and how they lived as they sought to live autonomously in freedom.

•    Richard Ligon, “A topographicall [Description and] Admeasurement [of the yland of] Barbados…” in A true & exact history of the island of Barbados, London, 1657 [digital record]
•    Mancel, "Plan géometrique de l'habitation de Mr. Guilleaume François Vallée," [Haiti], 1775 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    “The representation of the brig Vigilante from Nantes…” in [Album for the relief of British negro slaves], Birmingham, 1828 [digital record]
•    [Post-emancipation life], London, 1837, 6 leaves of plates [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Nicolas Colibert after Louis Freret, “Habitation des negres,” “Le culte des negres,” “Le mariage des negres,” “Arrivee des Europeens en Afrique,” Paris, 1795 [digital records here, here, here, here]
•    [Diagram of a Slave Ship] in Résumé du témoignage… Geneva, 1814 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]

The transatlantic trade in African captives and race-based chattel slavery in the Americas were complex economic events and transactions that entailed the production of a wide variety of texts, both manuscript and printed, describing various aspects of these trades with a chilling neutrality that shows us how entrenched and accepted these trades were. These texts included merchant manuals, encyclopedias of trade, narrative descriptions of how to conduct trade, and calls for and against free trade.

•    James Houstoun, The Works … Containing memoirs of his life and travels in Asia, Africa, America and most parts of Europe…, London, 1753 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Recueil de Différentes Pieces pour & contre l’admission des Etrangers dans les Isles Francaises de l’Amérique…[s.n.]. [S.L.], 1785 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]

The dreadful treatment of enslaved peoples in the Caribbean exposed them to a number of diseases hitherto unknown to the Europeans. The emergence of a 'Tropical medicine' helped physicians to understand the role of the environment both in propagating these conditions and treating them with medicinal plants and other remedies.

•    Jean Barthélémy Dazille, Observations sur les maladies des Negres..., Paris, 1776 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]
•    Jean-Baptiste René, Poupee-Desportes, Histoire des Maladies de S. Domingue, Paris, 1770 [catalog record (JOSIAH)]