Slavery and Anti-Slavery in the United States

Catalog description

This course will examine how Americans constructed, opposed, and eventually destroyed the institution of chattel slavery from the beginning of colonization through the American Revolution, the era of "first emancipations" in the late 18th & early 19th century, the rise of the Cotton Kingdom, the emergence and progress of radical abolitionism, and the final destruction of slavery during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Special attention will be paid to the ways in which enslaved people experienced and resisted their enslavement, the political and economic structures that gave birth to and sustained slavery, and the ideals and tactics of antislavery thinkers and activists.