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Primary Sources: Slavery & Abolition: General
primary sources related to slavery and efforts to end slavery
Focuses on memories of the slave trade from the African perspective. African chiefs & other elders in an area of southeastern Ghana - once famously called "the Old Slave Coast" - share stories. CNU ONLY
"The Slave Societies Digital Archive (SSDA), directed by Jane Landers and hosted at Vanderbilt University, is dedicated to identifying, cataloging, and digitally preserving endangered archival materials documenting the history of Africans and their descendants in the Atlantic World."
A research guide from the UK archives designed to give "an overview of the major original sources at The National Archives that relate to aspects of the slave trade, slavery and unfree labour in the British Caribbean and American colonies."
of families separated in the domestic slave trade. Formerly enslaved people placed these ads hoping to reconnect with family and loved ones for decades following emancipation. The ads serve as testaments to their enduring hope and determination to regain what was taken from them. "
"Several thousand items ranging from historical documents and rare visual materials to contemporary photo-journalism, relating to the entirety of African American history from the 16th century to the present; selected in the course of developing the NYPL website "African American Migration Experience." "
"The collection of pamphlets and supplementary texts within Recovered Histories covers a century of campaigning in Europe and America, capturing the voices of the enslaved, enslavers, slave ship surgeons, abolitionists, parliamentarians, the clergy, planters and rebels."
"This HeinOnline collection brings together, for the first time, all known legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. This includes every statute passed by every colony and state on slavery, every federal statute dealing with slavery, and all reported state and federal cases on slavery. Our cases go into the 20th century, because long after slavery was ended, there were still court cases based on issues emanating from slavery."
"TeachingAmericanHistory.org is a project of the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University. The Ashbrook Center is an independent, non-partisan non-profit, the mission of which is to restore and strengthen the capacities of the American people for constitutional self-government. To fulfill this mission, Ashbrook offers educational programs for students, teachers, and citizens."
Includes a database of documented slaving expeditions and a database identifies over 67,000 Africans aboard slave ships, using name, age, gender, origin, and place of embarkation.
Book Sources: Slavery - General Sources
A selection of books/e-books available in Trible Library.
Click the title for location and availability information.
"Following this extensive analytical section are biographies of important persons—both black and white—in the history of the slave trade. Thirteen primary documents show students the actual words of the participants. "
Translated from the Portuguese by William Walton.
Cover title: Brazilian pamphlet on the abolition of the slave trade, and the gradual emancipation of slaves
Suggested terms to look for include - diary, diaries, letters, papers, documents, documentary or correspondence.
Combine these these terms with the event or person you are researching. (example: civil war diary)
Also search by subject for specific people and events, then scan the titles for those keywords or others such as memoirs, autobiography, report, or personal narratives.