Noah’s Ark and the Slave Trade
After the Flood, Noah’s sons were repurposed to support a new worldview justifying racial hierarchy and slavery.
Slavery & Abolition
Slavery After Abolition: Revolt on the Amelia
The slave trade was an international criminal enterprise. In 1811 an uprising on the slaving ship Amelia off the coast of West Africa revealed a complex network spanning four continents.
On the Spot: Imaobong Umoren
‘Who is the most underrated person in history? Mary Prince, an enslaved woman who played a critical role in the abolition of slavery.’
On the Spot: Nicholas Radburn
‘Who is the most underrated person in history? Olaudah Equiano. His resilience in the face of adversity was phenomenal.’
Zambi of Palmares is Beheaded
On 20 November 1695, Zambi of Palmares – ruler of an ‘invincible’ community of former slaves in the Brazilian jungle – was killed by the Portuguese.
Scotland Too
Scotland’s profiteering and complicity within the British Empire’s transatlantic slave trade.
Frederick Douglass on Tour
When abolitionist author Frederick Douglass visited Britain and Ireland in 1845, he was celebrated in poems and songs wherever he went. Arriving as an enslaved man, he left with his freedom.
Contrabands of War
A new term inadvertently changed the way people thought about runaway slaves.
The Man who Haunts America
John Brown, the abolitionist firebrand, remains a potent figure in the United States’ febrile politics of race.
America’s Western Problem
Indigenous peoples in the West of the United States continued to be held in bondage long after the abolition of plantation slavery in the South.