THE DIASPORA OF AFRICANS LIBERATED FROM SLAVE SHIPS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY*. (22nd September 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Domingues da Silva, Daniel; Eltis, David; Misevich, Philip; Ojo, Olatunji
• Is Part Of: Journal of African history. Volume 55:Number 3(2014:Nov.)
• Page Start: 347
• Page End: 369
• Publication Date: 2014-09-22
• Subjects: Africa -- History -- Periodicals; 960.05
• DOI: 10.1017/S0021853714000371
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0021-8537

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>This article uses the extensive documentation of Africans liberated from slave vessels to explore issues of identity and freedom in the nineteenth-century Atlantic world. It tracks the size, origin, and movement of the Liberated African diaspora, offers a preliminary analysis of the 'disposal' of African recaptives in societies on both sides of the Atlantic, and assesses the opportunities Liberated Africans had in shaping their post-disembarkation experiences. While nearly all Liberated Africans were pulled at least partly into the Atlantic wage economy, the article concludes that recaptive communities in Freetown and its hinterland most closely met the aspirations of the Liberated Africans themselves while the fate of recaptives settled in the Americas paralleled those who were enslaved.</p> </abstract>