Description
Book SynopsisSheds fascinating light on the early development of the nations of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Australia and the role of former slaves in combatting the post 1808 illegal slave trade.
Trade ReviewA compelling and entirely unique glimpse into the daily operation of a slave-trading business on the West African coast, including accounts of individual British and American slavers, enslaved Africans employed on the coast, and captive Africans who narrowly escaped the middle passage." - Rebecca Shumway, author of
The Fante and the Transatlantic Slave Trade"An extraordinary achievement. By following the paper trail of a single West African slave-trading business, Christopher opens a window onto the shadowy world of illicit slavers and those they enslaved after the British abolition of the trade in 1807. Indeed, she has found the only known first-hand accounts from Africans employed in Sierra Leone's slave factories." - Randy J. Sparks, author of
Where the Negroes Are Masters"Christopher's meticulous account of the incident and its far-reaching ripples, based on court documents, is enlivened by her intelligent reading between the lines, into the historical silence." -
Sydney Morning Herald "An extraordinary, meticulous study of a single chapter in the early efforts of the British to suppress the legal slave trade. Christopher writes with nuance and an eye for human experience." -
Choice (A
Choice Outstanding Academic Title)
"Christopher weaves a compelling tale of the nineteenth-century slave trade, the men and women involved in it, and its complex interaction with the British world." -
Journal of Australian Colonial History"Cinematic. . . . There are no heroes in this rollicking story, but there are lots of fascinating villains." -
Australian Book ReviewTable of Contents
- List of Characters
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Part 1: Journeys to the Slave Factory
- 1 Son of a Liverpool Slave Dealer
- 2 A Kissi Child Caught in the Slave Trade
- 3 The Banana Islands to Gallinas
- 4 Making Deals with Siaka, Selling to the DeWolfs
- 5 A Cargo of Slaves for Havana
- Part 2: Burned to the Ground
- 6 A New Slave Factory at the St. Paul River
- 7 In the Barracoon
- 8 The Slave Ship FÉnix and Setting the Factory Alight
- 9 Leaving, Never to Return
- Part 3: Different Types of Liberty
- 10 Arriving in Freetown
- 11 The Court Case
- 12 Becoming Soldiers, Cabin Boys, and Wives
- 13 Leaving Africa
- 14 A Village of Their Own
- 15 A Murder, and an Appeal to the Prince Regent
- 16 Experiments in Civilization and Liberty
- 17 Prisoners in New South Wales
- 18 Christianity at Hogbrook
- 19 The End of Their Punishment
- 20 A Model Village
- 21 The Appeal
- 22 Helping to Found Liberia
- 23 Van Diemen's Land
- 24 Liberty in Black and White
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
