| Description |
Though slavery was the central feature of colonial America, historical discussions of slavery tend to skip this era, leaping ahead to the antebellum plantations of the Deep South. This seminar will instead explore the more than two centuries of slavery that preceded the cotton boom. We will ask questions such as: What is slavery? How did the Atlantic slave trade work? What kinds of slavery existed in the 17th- and 18th-century American colonies? How did race affect the creation of slavery? Using a combination of primary and secondary readings, we will seek to understand the origins and evolution of slavery in early North America. |