History
Comparative Perspectives on the Urban Black Atlantic on the Eve of Abolition
Document Type
Article
Abstract
By investigating the place of enslaved Africans and their descendants in the cities of the Atlantic world, this article explores many of the themes of this Special Issue across empires, with an emphasis on the Americas in the late eighteenth century, the eve of abolition. The article finds that, in nearly every manual occupation, slaves were integrated with free laborers and, not infrequently, slaves who had reached the level of journeyman or master directed the work of free apprentices. The limited number of slave insurrections in cities may be explained by the fact that they often worked semi-independently, earning money to supplement the livelihood provided by the master, or sometimes almost entirely on their own. To them, city life offered advantages that would have been inconceivable for their rural counterparts, especially the scope of autonomy they enjoyed and the possibilities to secure manumission.
Publication Title
International Review of Social History
Publication Date
4-1-2020
Volume
65
Issue
S28
First Page
15
Last Page
37
ISSN
0020-8590
DOI
10.1017/S0020859020000097
Keywords
slavery, abolition, Atlantic world
Repository Citation
Klooster, Wim, "Comparative Perspectives on the Urban Black Atlantic on the Eve of Abolition" (2020). History. 35.
https://commons.clarku.edu/historyfac/35
