
American Slavers
Merchants, Mariners, and the Transatlantic Commerce in Captives, 1644–1865
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Narrated by:
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Christopher Douyard
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By:
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Sean M. Kelley
About this listen
The first telling of the unknown story of America's two-hundred-year history as a slave-trading nation
A total of 305,000 enslaved Africans arrived in the New World aboard American vessels over a span of two hundred years as American merchants and mariners sailed to Africa and to the Caribbean to acquire and sell captives. Using exhaustive archival research, including many collections that have never been used before, historian Sean M. Kelley argues that slave trading needs to be seen as integral to the larger story of American slavery.
Engaging with both African and American history and addressing the trade over time, Kelley examines the experience of captivity, drawing on more than a hundred African narratives to offer a portrait of enslavement in the regions of Africa frequented by American ships. Kelley also provides a social history of the two American ports where slave trading was most intensive, Newport and Bristol, Rhode Island.
In telling this tragic, brutal, and largely unknown story, Kelley corrects many misconceptions while leaving no doubt that Americans were a nation of slave traders.
©2023 Sean M. Kelley (P)2023 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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What listeners say about American Slavers
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- mona berrier
- 07-17-23
Excellent
A thoroughly detailed and expansive analysis that provides a heretofore unexamined aspect of the slave trade and provides new insight on the subject. Five stars!
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- MNice
- 01-19-24
Loud breathing 😳
This is such an important part of history, but hopelessly distracting was the audible uptake of breath at the end of every. gasp. single. gasp. sentence.
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