LibGuides: Primary Sources: Slavery &amp; the Slave Trade

Slavery & the Slave Trade

American Slave Trade Records and Other Papers of the Tarleton Family, 1678-1838 This link opens in a new window Papers from a prominent slave-trading and slave-owning Liverpool merchant family with business interests in Britain and the West Indies. Documents date from the late 17th to early 19th centuries.
Antigua, Slavery and Emancipation in the Records of a Sugar Plantation This link opens in a new window Records of the Tudway family’s Antiguan sugar plantation during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Documents span the period from the early slave trade to the post-slavery economy.
Black Abolitionist Papers This link opens in a new window Covers the work of African Americans to abolish slavery in the United States prior to the Civil War. Covering the period 1830-1865, the collection includes the writings of the activists themselves, including pamphlets, newspaper articles and books.
Black Women Writers This link opens in a new window Black Women Writers presents 100,000 pages of literature and essays on feminist issues, written by authors from Africa and the African diaspora. Coverage begins in the 18th century with narratives depicting slavery, moves through and beyond the Harlem Renaissance, and includes writers from the movements of the 1960s, covering womanism, black feminism, and related topics.
Bray Schools in Canada, America and the Bahamas, 1645-1900 This link opens in a new window Archives of the Associates of Dr Bray, a philanthropic group whose aims were to provide education for black people and Native Americans in North America.
Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery This link opens in a new window Database containing, first, the identity of all slave-owners in the British colonies at the time slavery ended and, second, all the estates in the British Caribbean colonies. You can also browse maps, details of estates or explore thematically by type of legacy.
Civil War Era This link opens in a new window Almost 2000 U.S. pamphlets and 8 U.S. newspapers from 1840-1865 covering a vast range of topics including the formative economic factors and other forces that led to the abolitionist movement, the 600,000 battle casualties and the emancipation of nearly 4 million slaves. Digitised scans of individual articles and full newspaper pages. Date coverage: 1840-1865
Introduction to U.S. History: Slavery in America This link opens in a new window This collection documents key aspects of the history of slavery in America from its origins in Africa to its abolition, including materials on the slave trade, plantation life, emancipation, pro-slavery and anti-slavery arguments, the religious views on slavery, etc.
Power and Profit: British Colonial Trade in America and the Caribbean, 1678-1825 This link opens in a new window This collection is composed of British Naval Office shipping lists between the years of 1678 and 1825. Information includes names of vessels, names of home ports and colonies, details of the vessels' construction, the name of the owners, tonnage, number of guns carried, number of crew, and the cargo carried (including enslaved people as well as raw material).
Slavery, Abolition & Social Justice This link opens in a new window Bringing together documents from archives and libraries across the Atlantic world, spanning from 1490 to 2007, this resource allows to explore and compare unique material relating to the complex subjects of slavery, abolition and social justice. Includes original manuscripts, pamphlets, books, paintings and maps.
Slavery, Exploitation and Trade in the West Indies, 1759-1832 This link opens in a new window The business records, legal documents, and correspondence of Nathaniel Phillips, a Jamaican slave plantation owner during the 18th and 19th centuries. The collection provides insight into the social and economic history of the transatlantic slave trade.
Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Law and Order in the 19th Century (1636-1880) This link opens in a new window Covers the international and domestic traffic in slaves in Britain’s New World colonies and the United States, providing important primary source material on the business aspect of the slave trade. Also includes a series of letters received by the Attorney General on law and order in nineteenth century America. These letters cover the slave trade, general slavery matters including runaway slaves and rights of slaves, and other legal issues.
Slavery and the Law (1775-1867) This link opens in a new window Contains petitions on race, slavery, and free blacks that were submitted to U.S. state legislatures and county courthouses between 1775 and 1867. Collected together from hundreds of courthouses and historical societies in 10 states and the District of Columbia. Also includes the State Slavery Statutes collection, a comprehensive record of the laws governing American slavery from 1789-1865.
Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law via HeinOnline This link opens in a new window Historical legal materials on slavery in the United States and the English-speaking world. Includes statute, case law, commentary and analysis on slavery issues.
Slavery in Antebellum Southern Industries (1700-1896) This link opens in a new window Focusing on the industrial uses of slave labour, this includes company records; business and personal correspondence; documents pertaining to the purchase, hire, medical care, and provisioning of slave labourers; descriptions of production processes; and journals recounting costs and income. Businesses include mining, iron manufacturing, machine shop work, lumbering, quarrying, brickmaking, tobacco manufacturing, shipbuilding, heavy construction; and building of railroads and canals.
Slavery in Jamaica, Records from a Family of slave owners, 1686-1860 This link opens in a new window Records of the Goulburn family’s Jamaican plantations from the 17th to 19th century. The archive provides a comprehensive overview of the operation and eventual abolition of the slave trade in the West Indies.
Slavery Through Time: from Enslavers to Abolitionists, 1675-1865 This link opens in a new window This collection contains a wide range of documents concerning the African slave trade during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. The papers focus primarily on Jamaica and the West Indies, but also cover the experience of other nations and regions.
Slave Trade Records from Liverpool, 1754-1792 This link opens in a new window Papers of Liverpool merchants involved in the transatlantic slave trade during the period 1754-1792, when Liverpool was the busiest slave-trade port.
Slave Trading Records from William Davenport & Co. 1745-1797 This link opens in a new window Archive of the business activities of William Davenport, Liverpool merchant and British slave trader. Records span from the late 1740s till the early 1790s and include trading invoices and accounts, cargo lists and ledgers.
Slave Voyages This link opens in a new window Explore publicly accessible records of the largest slave trades in history. Search these records to learn about the broad origins and forced relocations of more than 12 million African people who were sent across the Atlantic in slave ships, and hundreds of thousands more who were trafficked within the Americas.
Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915, Plantation Records, Part 1 This link opens in a new window Contains business records and personal papers from U.S. plantations, including ledger books, payroll books, cotton ginning books, work rules, account books, and receipts. Personal papers include family correspondence, diaries, and wills. Includes major family papers collections sourced from a wide range of U.S. archives.
Southern Life and African American History, 1775-1915, Plantation Records, Part 2 This link opens in a new window Contains business records and personal papers from U.S. plantations, including coverage of land and crop sales, slave and medical accounts, family and overseers' correspondence, women's diaries, slave records. Includes major family papers collections sourced from a wide range of U.S. archives. Subjects covered include slave sales, runaway slaves, discipline, diet, health, and the work loads of adults and children; plantation management, and westward migration prior to the Civil War.
Southern Literary Messenger: Literature of the Old South This link opens in a new window The run covers 1834-1864 and was at the time the South's (U.S.A.) most important literary periodical. Initially apolitical, by 1860, contents were proslavery and pro-South.
West Indies in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1704-1950 This link opens in a new window Papers from the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel: their missionary work contrasted with the same Society owning slaves in the West Indies. The collection covers both sides of the Society's legacy as it moved from owning slaves to educating the emancipated. Contains reports and correspondence from across the region.