Historical sources for Slavery in United States: Searching online for your topic
Slavery in the Americas is well documented with good collections of primary source material. Historical sources that document the slave trade in America can include:
WIKIPEDIA:
If you are new to the topic, you might like to consult Wikipedia for an historical overview of the slave trade: See the article Slavery and take particular note of the sub-heading Early Modern Period: scroll down to 'Americas'. Good examples of extensive articles in Wikipedia are Slavery in the United States and Atlantic Slave Trade.
Use Wikipedia to:
- Visual images including maps / photos
- Newspaper articles
- Government and court papers
- Diaries, memoirs and other accounts by slaves or slave owners
- Advertisements
WIKIPEDIA:
If you are new to the topic, you might like to consult Wikipedia for an historical overview of the slave trade: See the article Slavery and take particular note of the sub-heading Early Modern Period: scroll down to 'Americas'. Good examples of extensive articles in Wikipedia are Slavery in the United States and Atlantic Slave Trade.
Use Wikipedia to:
- Develop your KEYWORD search strategy.
- Organise your ideas and thoughts on your chosen topic - the above articles present an overview of the times and allow background knowledge to kick start your research.
- Find links to other references and resources. (Scroll to the bottom of the Wikipedia pages to access links to further resources)
- Wikimedia Commons contains excellent access to primary source photographs, maps and illustrations from the time.
The following links are to featured websites and collections that contain Primary Source materials on each of the topics. Primary sources include audio interviews and recollections, photographs, written memoirs and more. Some are included from extensive Library and museum collections.
Explore the links to find the source you wish to use in this task. Use your knowledge and research skills to critically evaluate the usefulness of the source as an historic document.
Explore the links to find the source you wish to use in this task. Use your knowledge and research skills to critically evaluate the usefulness of the source as an historic document.
1. Features of slavery
The 1619 Project (NY Times) The goal of The 1619 Project is to reframe American history by making explicit how slavery is the foundation on which the United States of America is built, and by considering what it would mean to regard 1619 as the nation's birth year. By placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the story citizens tell of themselves and about who they are as a country, the hope is to paint a fuller picture of the institution that shaped the nation. The project consists of essays on different aspects of contemporary American life, from mass incarceration to rush-hour traffic, that have their roots in slavery and its aftermath. Alongside the essays are 17 original literary works that bring to life key moments in African-American history over the past 400 years, and a special section from the New York Times newspaper on the history of slavery made in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution.
Slavery in America (History.com) Contains links and multimedia on all aspects of slavery in America.
Slavery in America: a resource guide (Library of Congress)
Facts about slavery and the slave trade in America. (Historical Context) Guilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
Common misconceptions about slavery (Washington Post)
Slavery in America (History.com) Contains links and multimedia on all aspects of slavery in America.
Slavery in America: a resource guide (Library of Congress)
Facts about slavery and the slave trade in America. (Historical Context) Guilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
Common misconceptions about slavery (Washington Post)
2. The experiences of an individual slave
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936 to 1938 (Library of Congress) contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves.
Slavery Narratives (Smithsonian Museum of the African Diaspora) The few slave narratives that are presented in this online exhibit reflect only a fraction of the millions upon millions of stories that could have been told by people who had the misfortune to toil under the yoke of slavery.
Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories (Library of Congress) Personal narratives of former slaves, gathered through interviews conducted from 1932-1975.
Harriet Tubman (National Women's History Museum). Check out the stories of other slave women on this website.
Slavery stories. The history of American slavery, in the own words of those who went through this terrible ordeal.
You can also look up the names of individual slaves who have documented their experiences.
Slavery Narratives (Smithsonian Museum of the African Diaspora) The few slave narratives that are presented in this online exhibit reflect only a fraction of the millions upon millions of stories that could have been told by people who had the misfortune to toil under the yoke of slavery.
Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories (Library of Congress) Personal narratives of former slaves, gathered through interviews conducted from 1932-1975.
Harriet Tubman (National Women's History Museum). Check out the stories of other slave women on this website.
Slavery stories. The history of American slavery, in the own words of those who went through this terrible ordeal.
You can also look up the names of individual slaves who have documented their experiences.
3. The short / long term consequences of transporting African slaves to Americas
The trans Atlantic slave trade database. The Digital Library on American Slavery includes 34,946 voyages and 86,689 slave names and 34,551 captain names. Voyages features information on more than 35,000 slave voyages that forcibly embarked over 12 million Africans for transport to the Americas between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. It offers researchers, students and the general public a chance to rediscover the reality of one of the largest forced movements of peoples in world history.
The trans Atlantic Slave Trade. (Digital public library of America)
The trans Atlantic Slave Trade (Boston University: A guided History)
The Slave Route (UNESCO)
International Slavery Museum virtual tour
Effects of the Atlantic slave trade on America (University of Texas. Podcast. Duration 15 min)
Africans in America (PBS)
The voyage of the Echo: the trial of an illegal slave trade ship This online exhibition examines the illegal trans-Atlantic slave trade through the voyage and capture of the slave ship Echo in 1858. The Echo voyage demonstrates how port cities such as New York City and New Orleans were strongly tied to the slave trade long after the U.S. Abolition Act of 1807. The subsequent Echo trials in South Carolina provide insight into debates about the future of U.S. slavery in the years preceding the American Civil War. Published May 2014.
The trans Atlantic Slave Trade. (Digital public library of America)
The trans Atlantic Slave Trade (Boston University: A guided History)
The Slave Route (UNESCO)
International Slavery Museum virtual tour
Effects of the Atlantic slave trade on America (University of Texas. Podcast. Duration 15 min)
Africans in America (PBS)
The voyage of the Echo: the trial of an illegal slave trade ship This online exhibition examines the illegal trans-Atlantic slave trade through the voyage and capture of the slave ship Echo in 1858. The Echo voyage demonstrates how port cities such as New York City and New Orleans were strongly tied to the slave trade long after the U.S. Abolition Act of 1807. The subsequent Echo trials in South Carolina provide insight into debates about the future of U.S. slavery in the years preceding the American Civil War. Published May 2014.
Slavery on film
You might wish to explore the topic further with these films, books and audio to give you a fuller understanding of the times and places.
|
|
|
Books, Ebooks and audiobooks
Hatt, Christine. Slavery: from Africa to the Americas (NON973/HAT)
Rees, Rosemary et al. Black peoples of the Americas (NON970.00496)
Solomon, Northup. Twelve Years a Slave. (NON306.3/NOR) Solomon Northup is a free man, living in New York. Then he is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Drugged, beaten, given a new name and transported away from his wife and children to a Louisiana cotton plantation, Solomon will die if he reveals his true identity.
Twelve years a slave (audiobook) Available sscl.wheelers.co
Twelve years a slave (ebook) Available sscl.wheelers.co
McKissack, Patricia C. Slave girl: an African American girl's diary 1859 (F/MCK)
Rinaldi, Ann. Hang a thousand trees with ribbons. Historical novel based on the story of Phillis Wheatley - the first African American female poet. It presents an intriguing and moving story of a young girl kidnapped from her home in Senegal and sold, in 1761, as a slave to the wealthy Wheatley family of Boston.
Amateau, Gigi. Come August, come freedom: the bellows, the gallows and the black general Gabriel. Imagines the childhood and youth of Prosser's Gabriel, a courageous and intelligent blacksmith in post Revolutionary Richmond, Virginia, who roused thousands of African Americans slaves like himself to rebel. (F/AMA)
Rees, Rosemary et al. Black peoples of the Americas (NON970.00496)
Solomon, Northup. Twelve Years a Slave. (NON306.3/NOR) Solomon Northup is a free man, living in New York. Then he is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Drugged, beaten, given a new name and transported away from his wife and children to a Louisiana cotton plantation, Solomon will die if he reveals his true identity.
Twelve years a slave (audiobook) Available sscl.wheelers.co
Twelve years a slave (ebook) Available sscl.wheelers.co
McKissack, Patricia C. Slave girl: an African American girl's diary 1859 (F/MCK)
Rinaldi, Ann. Hang a thousand trees with ribbons. Historical novel based on the story of Phillis Wheatley - the first African American female poet. It presents an intriguing and moving story of a young girl kidnapped from her home in Senegal and sold, in 1761, as a slave to the wealthy Wheatley family of Boston.
Amateau, Gigi. Come August, come freedom: the bellows, the gallows and the black general Gabriel. Imagines the childhood and youth of Prosser's Gabriel, a courageous and intelligent blacksmith in post Revolutionary Richmond, Virginia, who roused thousands of African Americans slaves like himself to rebel. (F/AMA)
Podcasts
Book a Research consultation
A Library Team member can be booked to talk through your individual research needs. See or email Mrs South (Mon - Wed) or Ms Fede (Thurs - Fri) to make a suitable time.
Research consultations can help you develop good research strategies. We work with individuals or groups to find the very best resources for assessment tasks and projects.
Research consultations can help you develop good research strategies. We work with individuals or groups to find the very best resources for assessment tasks and projects.