Slavery & Abolition

Slavery and the British

James Walvin reviews current ideas about the vast network of slavery that shaped British and world history for more than two centuries.

Publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe's influential work first appeared in the National Era on June 5th, 1851.

Counting the Slaves

Stephen D. Behrendt marks the advent of an electronic database for the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Birth of John Brown

Richard Cavendish charts the early life of the abolitionist John Brown, born on May 9th, 1800.

Ghana's slaving past, long regarded as too sensitive to even discuss, is now becoming a lively issue. A group of Ghanaians, led by lawyers and tribal chiefs, have convened an Africa-wide meeting to seek 'retribution and compensation for the crime of slavery’.

Brazil’s African Legacy

John Geipel on how the enforced diaspora of the slave trade shaped South America’s largest nation.

Ghana's Crumbling Heritage

Graham Norton looks at dilapidated forts and castles in West Africa

Uprising of enslaved people in the French colony of Santo Domingo, 22 August 1791. Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris. Public Domain.

Anti-Slavery and the French Revolution

The French Revolution’s message of ‘liberté, égalité, fraternité’ was crucial to uprisings by enslaved peoples in Europe’s Caribbean colonies.

Indian Labour in British Guiana

Emancipation in British Guiana brought an influx of indentured labourers from India, whose working and living conditions were destructive of caste and culture, and often as harsh as those of the slaves they replaced.