Henry Nelson Coleridge (1798 1843) was plagued with spinal problems and rheumatism throughout his life. The purpose of his six-month voyage around the Caribbean, although ostensibly for his health, was also a futile attempt to prevent his marriage to his beloved cousin Sara. Coleridge's thinly disguised references to Sara punctuate this light-hearted memoir, originally published anonymously in 1826. Coleridge compares and contrasts twelve different islands. Towns, villages, monuments, architecture, churches and plantations are described as he roams the islands freely, visits acquaintances and enjoys the natural history. Throughout his journey Coleridge observes all races on the islands. He gives an account of the Caribbean plantations, commenting on the situation of the plantation slaves and pondering the opportunities available to emancipate them without affecting the plantations' productivity. He also highlights cases where slaves are well treated by plantation owners.

Moncure Conway (1832 1907) was born on his family's plantation in Virginia, but became a committed abolitionist soon after he left college. He joined abolitionist rallies and moved from Methodism to the Unitarian ministry, eventually becoming a freethinker. Conway became increasingly isolated from his family as a result of his abolitionist activism, his marriage to an abolitionist, and the resettling of a group of his father's escaped slaves in Ohio during the civil war. This book was published in 1865, soon after he settled in Britain, where he lived for over 30 years, became a supporter of women's suffrage, and networked with intellectuals including Dickens, Carlyle, Lyell and Darwin. His description of the injustices of slavery, including the slave trading in the southern plantations that triggered the secession of southern states and the civil war, is set in the context of his personal experiences and his evolving ethical views.

This book, first published in 1897, examines two important factors in the growth of Liverpool as a major port: privateering and the slave trade. It incorporates a large amount of primary source material, including extracts from letters and newspaper reports. Privateeering developed as Britain became a global maritime power through merchant shipping and exploration, privateers being ships and individuals authorised by the government through Letters of Marque to attack and capture foreign ships for profit. Williams recounts the exploits of several notorious privateers sailing from Liverpool, and describes how the industry functioned and flourished during the French revolution, the Seven Years' War and the American wars. He provides much practical detail, including how best to capture ships while causing them minimal damage. The second part of his book is still regarded as a classic history of the Liverpool slave trade, and clearly reveals the author's anti-imperialist views.

James Stephen (1758-1832) was a British lawyer and slavery abolitionist. After qualifying for the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1782 Stephen sailed for St Kitts in 1783. The atrocities committed against slaves which he witnessed in the West Indies converted him to the abolitionist cause, and after his return to England in 1794 he campaigned on behalf of the abolition movement. This volume, first published in 1804, contains Stephen's discussion of Britain's political choices following the successful Haitian Revolution (1791-1804). Before the Revolution, Haiti was one of the wealthiest colonies in the Caribbean, which Britain had attempted unsuccessfully to acquire by force. Stephen explores the complex political situation created by Haiti's declaration of independence, and advocates for Britain to acknowledge Haiti as a sovereign state. Stephen's thorough assessment of Britain's political choices and their potential impact provides valuable insights into contemporary trade and political motivations surrounding Haiti.

William Wilberforce (1759 1833) was a politician, philanthropist and evangelical Christian, now best known for his work to end the slave trade. Elected to Parliament in 1780, he campaigned unsuccessfully for penal and electoral reform. In 1787, at the encouragement of William Pitt, he took up the cause of abolition at Westminster, but humanitarian and ethical arguments were slow to overcome the economic interests of those who had made fortunes from the slave trade or the use of slave labour. It was not until 1807 that the Abolition Bill was finally passed: shortly beforehand, Wilberforce had published this Letter to his constituents, justifying his preoccupation with abolition against claims that he was neglecting their local interests at Westminster, and setting out all his arguments against the slave trade. It is followed by his 1814 letter to Talleyrand, calling for a Europe-wide ban of the trade.

Harriet Ann Jacobs (1813 1897) was born into slavery in North Carolina, but escaped to the north to flee her owner's sexual advances. This autobiography was published under a pseudonym in 1861 to protect her family. She became involved with the Anti-Slavery Society, speaking at meetings in support of abolition. The book was aimed at middle-class white women, and stresses the impact of slavery on women's chastity, as slaves were frequently sexually exploited. She is highly critical of the nominal Christianity of the culture of the southern States. Much of the narrative deals with her efforts to regain her children, who had remained her master's property. Jacobs' first-hand account was an early publication of its type, and many found the abuse she suffered shocking and unbelievable. Jacobs became a role model for freed slaves, in taking control of her life, and helping others to adapt through education.

Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786 1845) was a committed social reformer throughout his life and became involved with the abolition of slavery during his time as an MP, taking over the leadership of the abolition movement in the British House of Commons after William Wilberforce retired in 1825. Following the abolition of slavery in Britain and its colonies in 1833, and his loss of his Parliamentary seat in 1837, Buxton concerned himself with the slave trade along the African coast still perpetrated by Africans, Arabs and the Portuguese. The results of his research and conclusions were originally published in 1839, and demonstrate the extent to which slave trading still existed, and its human cost in mortality and misery, despite attempts at policing by the British navy. Buxton explores the theory that the key to complete abolition is a change in market economics to eliminate the need for African slave labour.

First published in 1900, this systematic analysis of slavery in primitive societies from an ethnographical and economic viewpoint by Dutch scholar Herman Nieboer (1873 1920) brought him international fame. The first part defines what he means by slavery, and then examines how slavery has been practised at different periods and in all parts of the world. In the second part, Nieboer analyses this mass of information from ethnographical literature to derive an underlying theory of slavery, and the economic conditions necessary for it to function. Discussing the different types of early societies - hunters, nomads and agriculturists - Nieboer shows how the presence or absence of slavery can be closely linked to economic conditions. The book was a key work in the study of early slavery, particularly as Nieboer concentrates on primitive cultures rather than on the ancient and classical world most studied previously, and covers a worldwide geographical area.

The Committee was commissioned to report on the state of trade between Britain and America after the United States Congress had passed legislation imposing duties and restrictions on imports in 1789. Merchants and ship owners in the major British ports and British consuls in America were sent questionnaires on the effects of such levies. The committee made its report in 1791, and began by summarising the situation since Britain had acknowledged American independence in 1783, and how independence had affected trade, including that involving slaves, between the two countries. The decline in British exports to the United States had been offset by exports to Canada and the West Indies. Overall, the balance of trade was in Britain's favour, but the continuing prosperity of the British West Indian colonies was seen as depending almost entirely on their slave-based economy, and abolition was therefore not believed to be an option.

A chronicle of the difficulties and successes of trying to police the slave trading routes on the eastern Indian Ocean. Captain George Sullivan writes of his experiences and frustrations in trying to enforce British anti-slave-trade laws among the Arab and African kingdoms of the east coast of Africa and the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba and Madagascar in 1849. Battling with scorching heat, rough seas, tropical diseases, hostility from the native slavers, and language barriers, the naval ships continue the struggle for abolition. While rescuing a significant number of slaves from transport dhows, the captain chronicles their stories: their tribes, how they were sold into slavery, and the best location to rehabilitate them to avoid re-capture. A fascinating record, published in 1873, of the struggle to enforce the complex abolition laws far from central government, with dubious documents and deceptions encountered from local Arab and Portuguese slavers.

William Wilberforce (1759 1833) was a politician, philanthropist and evangelical Christian, now best known for his work to end the slave trade. Elected to Parliament in 1780, he campaigned unsuccessfully for penal and electoral reform. In 1787, at the encouragement of his friend William Pitt, he took up the cause of abolition at Westminster and lobbied influential people tirelessly, but humanitarian and ethical arguments were slow to overcome the economic interests of those who had made fortunes from the slave trade or the use of slave labour. It was not until 1807 that the Abolition Bill was finally passed. Wilberforce continued his work for emancipation, and also campaigned for religious liberty. This biography, based on his own writings, was published by two of his sons in 1838, but sheds more light on religious than on political aspects of his life. Volume 1 covers the period from his birth until 1792.

William Wilberforce (1759 1833) was a politician, philanthropist and evangelical Christian, now best known for his work to end the slave trade. Elected to Parliament in 1780, he campaigned unsuccessfully for penal and electoral reform. In 1787, at the encouragement of his friend William Pitt, he took up the cause of abolition at Westminster and lobbied influential people tirelessly, but humanitarian and ethical arguments were slow to overcome the economic interests of those who had made fortunes from the slave trade or the use of slave labour. It was not until 1807 that the Abolition Bill was finally passed. Wilberforce continued his work for emancipation, and also campaigned for religious liberty. This biography, based on his own writings, was published by two of his sons in 1838, but sheds more light on religious than on political aspects of his life. Volume 2 covers the period from 1792 to 1800.

William Wilberforce (1759 1833) was a politician, philanthropist and evangelical Christian, now best known for his work to end the slave trade. Elected to Parliament in 1780, he campaigned unsuccessfully for penal and electoral reform. In 1787, at the encouragement of his friend William Pitt, he took up the cause of abolition at Westminster and lobbied influential people tirelessly, but humanitarian and ethical arguments were slow to overcome the economic interests of those who had made fortunes from the slave trade or the use of slave labour. It was not until 1807 that the Abolition Bill was finally passed. Wilberforce continued his work for emancipation, and also campaigned for religious liberty. This biography, based on his own writings, was published by two of his sons in 1838, but sheds more light on religious than on political aspects of his life. Volume 3 covers the period from 1800 until 1812.

William Wilberforce (1759 1833) was a politician, philanthropist and evangelical Christian, now best known for his work to end the slave trade. Elected to Parliament in 1780, he campaigned unsuccessfully for penal and electoral reform. In 1787, at the encouragement of his friend William Pitt, he took up the cause of abolition at Westminster and lobbied influential people tirelessly, but humanitarian and ethical arguments were slow to overcome the economic interests of those who had made fortunes from the slave trade or the use of slave labour. It was not until 1807 that the Abolition Bill was finally passed. Wilberforce continued his work for emancipation, and also campaigned for religious liberty. This biography, based on his own writings, was published by two of his sons in 1838, but sheds more light on religious than on political aspects of his life. Volume 4 covers the period from 1812 to 1818.

William Wilberforce (1759 1833) was a politician, philanthropist and evangelical Christian, now best known for his work to end the slave trade. Elected to Parliament in 1780, he campaigned unsuccessfully for penal and electoral reform. In 1787, at the encouragement of his friend William Pitt, he took up the cause of abolition at Westminster and lobbied influential people tirelessly, but humanitarian and ethical arguments were slow to overcome the economic interests of those who had made fortunes from the slave trade or the use of slave labour. It was not until 1807 that the Abolition Bill was finally passed. Wilberforce continued his work for emancipation, and also campaigned for religious liberty. This biography, based on his own writings, was published by two of his sons in 1838, but sheds more light on religious than on political aspects of his life. Volume 5 covers the period from 1818 until Wilberforce's death.

William Wilberforce (1759 1833) was a politician, philanthropist and evangelical Christian, now best known for his work to end the slave trade. Elected to Parliament in 1780, he campaigned unsuccessfully for penal and electoral reform. In 1787, at the encouragement of his friend William Pitt, he took up the cause of abolition at Westminster, while Thomas Clarkson and others collected evidence and mobilised popular opinion. Wilberforce also lobbied tirelessly for the cause, but humanitarian and ethical arguments were slow to overcome the economic interests of those who had made fortunes from the slave trade or the use of slave labour. It was not until 1807 that the Abolition Bill was finally passed. Wilberforce continued his work for the emancipation of slaves, and also campaigned for religious liberty. This work, edited by two of his sons and published in 1840, includes their reply to criticisms by Thomas Clarkson of their earlier biography.

William Wilberforce (1759 1833) was a politician, philanthropist and evangelical Christian, now best known for his work to end the slave trade. Elected to Parliament in 1780, he campaigned unsuccessfully for penal and electoral reform. In 1787, at the encouragement of his friend William Pitt, he took up the cause of abolition at Westminster, while Thomas Clarkson and others collected evidence and mobilised popular opinion. Wilberforce also lobbied tirelessly for the cause, but humanitarian and ethical arguments were slow to overcome the economic interests of those who had made fortunes from the slave trade or the use of slave labour. It was not until 1807 that the Abolition Bill was finally passed. Wilberforce continued his work for the emancipation of slaves, and also campaigned for religious liberty. This work, edited by two of his sons and published in 1840, includes their reply to criticisms by Thomas Clarkson of their earlier biography.

Classical slavery provides fascinating, complex, and engaging, albeit sometimes grim, topics for the historian. Over the last generation, these have attracted the attention of many of the best minds in ancient social history. The issues involved have generated passionate debates; the challenge of the uneven evidence has elicited elegant arguments and painstaking investigations of tricky and obscure bodies of evidence. Although I have a couple of my own ideas to develop, the main aim of this book is to convey the excitement and interest of the field of ancient slavery to students of history. The topic of Greek and Roman slavery is a large one. Rather than write a long book I will be selective in my treatment. The general introduction will provide the political and historical context for Greek and Roman slavery and briefly survey the institutions themselves. Each chapter will open with a section on "Background and Methodology." These will orient the reader for the chapter's "Case Studies," one from Greece and one from Rome and sometimes a Hellenistic case that would constitute the bulk of the book. Some asymmetry will be unavoidable between the treatment of Greece and of Rome, since the questions our evidence allows us fruitfully to investigate are not the same in each case. For example, the chapter on slave families could treat slave families proper at Rome, but would have to focus on intimate slave-master relationships in Greece, since only a few passages mention slave families in classical Greece. In sum, interest will take a higher priority than coverage, although the reader should end up with a solid general knowledge of classical slavery.

William Gifford Palgrave (1826 1888) was a renowned traveller and Arabic scholar. After graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1846 he received a lieutenant's commission in the 8th Bombay Regiment of native infantry, but he converted to Roman Catholicism, and settled in Syria as a missionary in 1855, during which time he travelled across Arabia. After renouncing Catholicism in 1865, he began a career with the British foreign service, working in several positions in the Far East. This volume, first published in 1876, contains Palgrave's account of his visit to Dutch Guiana, now the South American country of Suriname. Arranging his material according to geographic location, Palgrave describes in detail the society and geography of the country, discussing the treatment of former slaves and describing the unique Maroon culture of former slaves and indigenous people. This volume provides fascinating information on the society and culture of this uniquely diverse country.

David Lambert explores the political and cultural articulation of white creole identity in the British Caribbean colony of Barbados during the age of abolitionism (c.1780-1833), the period in which the British antislavery movement emerged, first to attack the slave trade and then the institution of chattel slavery itself. Supporters of slavery in Barbados and beyond responded with their own campaigning, resulting in a series of debates and moments of controversy, both localised and transatlantic in significance. They exposed tensions between Britain and its West Indian colonies, and raised questions about whether white slaveholders could be classed as fully 'British' and if slavery was compatible with 'English' conceptions of liberty and morality. David Lambert considers what it meant to be a white colonial subject in a place viewed as a vital and loyal part of the empire but subject to increasing metropolitan attack because of the existence of slavery.

Slavery in the Development of the Americas brings together work from leading historians and economic historians of slavery. The essays cover various aspects of slavery and the role of slavery in the development of the southern United States, Brazil, Cuba, the French and Dutch Caribbean, and elsewhere in the Americas. Some essays explore the emergence of the slave system, and others provide important insights about the operation of specific slave economics. There are reviews of slave markets and prices, and discussions of the efficiency and distributional aspects of slavery. Perspectives are brought on the transition from slavery and subsequent adjustments, and the volume contains the work of prominent scholars, many of whom have been pioneers in the study of slavery in the Americas.

"For a Vast Future Also": Essays from The Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, brings together the most informative and thoughtful articles by fourteen accomplished scholars in the Lincoln field. The essays provide compact, detailed treatments concerning different facets of three general themes: Lincoln and the problems of emancipation; Lincoln and presidential politics; and the Lincoln legacy. Readers of the collection will understand why the Civil War profoundly changed the nation. These essays give insight into how Lincoln and his administration dealt with the profound issues of war and slavery and the continuing legacy of Lincoln and the war. No book or essay collection brings together the writings of such luminaries in the field as John Hope Franklin, James M. McPherson, Don E. Fehrenbacher, T. Harry Williams, Phillip S. Paludan, Harold Hyman, John Niven, William A. Gienapp, Norman B. Ferris, John T. Hubbell, Arthur Zilversmit, Eugene H. Berwanger, Christopher N. Breiseth, and Michael Vorenberg. Researchers now have these valuable essays available in one volume. It offers the general public the distillation of scholarship supported by the Abraham Lincoln Association over the past twenty-five years. And college and university introductory courses will find this book a valuable summary of, and introduction to, the major issues of the Civil War period.

W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolific author of novels, autobiographical accounts, innumerable editorials and journalistic pieces, and several works of history.
First published in 1899 at the dawn of sociology, The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study is a landmark in empirical sociological research. Du Bois was the first sociologist to document the living circumstances of urban Black Americans. The Philadelphia Negro provides a framework for studying black communities, and it has steadily grown in importance since its original publication. Today, it is an indispensable model for sociologists, historians, political scientists, anthropologists, educators, philosophers, and urban studies scholars. With a series introduction by editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and an introduction by Lawrence Bobo, this edition is essential for anyone interested in African American history and sociology.

W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolific author of novels, autobiographical accounts, innumerable editorials and journalistic pieces, and several works of history.
Published posthumously in 1968, The Autobiography of W. E. B. Du Bois is his last and most complete autobiography. Covering his life over almost a century of living in America, it's the closest thing we have to a true autobiography of this important scholar and activist. The book, broken up into three parts, delves into the 90-year-old Du Bois's thoughts on everything from his relationship with sex to his storied association with the NAACP to his political persecution during the Cold War years to his many travels abroad. As Du Bois writes, he takes the reader on a journey to "view my life as frankly and fully as I can." With a series introduction by editor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and an introduction by Werner Sollors, this edition is essential for anyone interested in African American history.

The lawyer and leading abolitionist James Stephen (1758 1832) published Volume 1 of The Slavery of the British West India Colonies Delineated in 1824. The volume is an exposure of the cruel and oppressive legal system of slavery in the British West Indies. The work explores the origin of nineteenth-century colonial slave laws, the legal status of individual slaves, the legal relations between slaves and their masters, and the policing and governance of slave populations. In each chapter Stephen exposes the cruelty and inhumanity behind the West Indian slave laws. Stephen had been the legal mastermind of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which abolished the slave trade in the British Empire but not slavery itself. This important work was influential in directing public opinion against slavery and helped lead towards the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act. It is a key text in the progression of the nineteenth-century abolitionist movement.