Saving Souls: The Struggle to End the Transatlantic Trade in Africans

by Hilary McD. Beckles, Verene A. Shepherd, P.J. Patterson (Foreword)

The process of terminating the European Transatlantic Trade in Africans (TTA) was long and drawn-out. Although Africans, including the enslaved had long resisted its operation, abolition has traditionally been presented as a benevolent act by the British state acting under pressure from the intellectual classes and humanitarian activists. But the campaign to end the TTA cannot be separated from the resistance struggle of the Africans themselves.In Saving Souls: The Struggle to end the Transatlantic Trade in Africans, the companion volume to Trading Souls, noted Caribbean historians Hilary Beckles and Verene Shepherd trace the African experience from capture, the horrors of the Middle Passage to liberation. Their story emphasises the contributions of the victims of the enslaved even while acknowledging the critical role of the British abolitionists.

Readers will learn about:
The structure and conduct of the trade in African people
Details of the resistance of Africans to capture, sale and transportation
The abolition movement involving black and white, enslaved and free, male and female, Christian and non-Christian activists
Legacies of the 1807 Act
The final Abolition Acts, namely the 1805-1806 Order-in-Council and the 1807 Act are included as appendices for easy reference.

Contents:
The transatlantic trade in Africans and African resistance on the Continent and on the middle passage --
African and Caribbean abolitionists in action --
European and North American abolitionists in Action --
Freedom delayed: the trade in Africans after 1807 --
Legacies: persistent racism and new African identities.

138 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 2000

About the author

Sir Hilary McDonald Beckles KA (born 11 August 1955) is a Barbadian historian, he is the current vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI) and chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Committee.

Educated at the University of Hull in England, Beckles began his academic career at UWI, and was granted a personal professorship at the age of 37, becoming the youngest in the university's history. He was named pro-vice-chancellor and chairman of UWI's Board for Undergraduate Studies in 1998, and in 2002 was named principal of the university's Cave Hill campus. Although his focus has mainly been on Afro-Caribbean history, especially the economic and social impacts of colonialism and the Atlantic slave trade, Beckles has also had a longstanding involvement with West Indian cricket, and has previously served on the board of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).

Reviews

[Stacie Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read for anyone interested in Caribbean History.