American Slavers : merchants, mariners, and the transatlantic commerce in captives, 1644-1865 / Sean M. Kelley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kelley, Sean M., 1966- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Slave trade--United States--History.

Slave trade.

Slavery--United States--History.

Slavery.

Transatlantic slave trade.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (496 pages)

Place of Publication:

New Haven, Connecticut : Yale University Press, [2023]

Summary:

The first telling of the unknown story of America’s two-hundred-year history as a slave-trading nation A total of 305,000 enslaved Africans arrived in the New World aboard American vessels over a span of two hundred years, yet this is the first book-length study covering the whole of the North American slave trade. American merchants and mariners sailed to Africa and to the Caribbean to acquire and sell captives. Using exhaustive archival research, including many collections that have never been used before, historian Sean M. Kelley argues that slave trading needs to be seen as an integral part of the larger story of American slavery. Engaging deeply with both African and American history and addressing the trade over time, Kelley examines the experience of captivity, drawing on more than a hundred African narratives to offer a portrait of enslavement in the regions of Africa frequented by American ships. Kelley also provides a social history of the two American ports where slave trading was most intensive, Newport and Bristol, Rhode Island. In telling this tragic, brutal, and largely unknown story, Kelley corrects many misconceptions while leaving no doubt that Americans were a nation of slave traders.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Maps

Introduction: Ships Coming In, Ships Going Out

Part 1. SLAVERS AS SETTLERS, 1644 –1700

Portudal, Senegambia, the Dry Season, 1645

One Puritan Slavers, 1644 –1700

Two The Madagascar Moment, 1680 –1700

Part Two. SLAVERS AS BRITONS 1700–1775

Newport, Rhode Island, December 5, 1752

Three Newport and the Rise of the Rum Men, 1700–1750

Four Knowledge and Networks, 1751–1775

Part Three SLAVERS AS AMERICANS 1775–1807

Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, September 19, 1775

Five Revolution and Reorientation, 1775–1803

Six Crescendo, 1804 –1807

Part Four LIFE AND DEATH IN THE SLAVE TRADE 1700–1807

Newport, Rhode Island, Present Day

Seven Captivity

Eight Slave-Trading Communities

Part Five SLAVERS AS OUTLAWS 1808–1865

Mediterranean Sea, 1830

Nine Evasion, 1808 –1835

Ten Shills, Hirelings, and True Believers, 1835–1865

Conclusion A Reckoning of Accounts

Chronology

Abbreviations

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Kelley, Sean M. American Slavers

ISBN:

9780300271553

OCLC:

1378391301