American Slavery

Catalog description

This course explores the colonial and national experience of Africans and African-Americans through 1865. Particular attention is given to a general understanding of African history, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, slave life in the Caribbean and the American South, the role of free blacks in both northern and southern colonies and states, antebellum abolitionist and proslavery arguments, and the consequences of emancipation. Also addressed will be the debate over whether Africans/African-Americans were active agents or passive participants in early American history.