Afro-American Studies 293A - S-Slavery & Diaspora/Atlantic

This survey of slavery's history in the Atlantic World between the late 15th and late 19th centuries examines the world created by the transatlantic slave trade, a world in which coerced black labor was at the center of European colonization projects and the rise of Western capitalism. This course employs a comparative and transnational framework; throughout the semester, students will encounter slave societies throughout the Atlantic World, ranging from West Africa to the Caribbean to North America. Subjects covered include the slave trade, the creation of diasporic cultures and communities, the labor of slavery, strategies of slave resistance, and the transatlantic struggle for slavery's abolition. Special attention is given to the lives and experiences of enslaved people themselves.