Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery in America

1526 - 1865

Websites

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Look through digital artifcats and learn more about the history of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

The National Archives

The Slave TradeAt the Constitutional Convention in 1787, delegates fiercely debated the issue of slavery. They ultimately agreed that the United States would potentially cease importation of slaves in 1808. An act of Congress passed in 1800 made it illegal for Americans to engage in the slave trade between nations, and gave U.S. authorities the right to seize slave ships which were caught transporting slaves and confiscate their cargo. Then the "Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves" took effect in 1808.

Understanding Slavery Initiative

"This website aims to support those teaching and learning about Transatlantic Slavery and its legacies using museum and heritage collections."

Slave Voyages

"The SlaveVoyages website is a collaborative digital initiative that compiles and makes 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. Explore where they were taken, the numerous rebellions that occurred, the horrific loss of life during the voyages, the identities and nationalities of the perpetrators, and much more."

The Transatlantic Slave Trade | Equal Justice InitiativeA history of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in America.

Make sure to click "Read the report."

"EJI’s new report examines the economic legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which created generational wealth for Europeans and white Americans and introduced a racial hierarchy that continues to haunt our nation."

Lowcountry Digital Library at the College of Charleston: African Passages

"An online exhibition series about the history of slavery, plantations, and the trans-Atlantic slave trade from the Atlantic World to Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry. Exhibitions include: Atlantic World Context and Establishing Slavery in the Carolina Lowcountry. Published 2013."

Use the links under the Menu bar to discover the information and resources available through the site.

PBS: Africans in America

This link takes you to Part 1 of the series. Make sure to click through all four parts and the links included in each part for images and additional information.

The Georgetown Slavery Archive

"The Georgetown Slavery Archive is a repository of materials relating to the Maryland Jesuits, Georgetown University, and slavery. "

Slavery Images

"This educational resource is a two-part website created for teachers, researchers, students and the general public. It exists to assist anyone interested in visualizing the experiences of Africans and their descendants who were enslaved and transported to slave societies around the world.

This website t is a digital archive for hundreds of historical images, paintings, lithographs, and photographs illustrating enslaved Africans and their descendants before c. 1900."

Slavery and Remembrance: A Guide to Sites, Museums, and Memory

"Five-hundred years of transatlantic slavery, slave trading, and their legacies cannot be understood through one lens. Slavery and Remembrance embraces the intersections and differences among more than fifty sites and museums from across the globe."

Jim Crow Museum

"The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia is the nation's largest publicly accessible collection of artifacts of intolerance. The Museum contextualizes the dreadful impact of Jim Crow laws and customs. The Museum uses objects of intolerance to teach tolerance and promote a more just society."

In addition, the museum's website includes information about slavery in America. For a timeline of Africa before American Slavery, Slavery in America, Reconstruction, and beyond, visit the timeline page here.

Research Guides: Slavery in America: A Resource Guide: IntroductionThroughout the 17th and 18th centuries millions of Africans were forced to become enslaved people in the American colonies. This guide provides access to Library of Congress digitized primary sources, links to related websites, and a print bibliography.

Videos

This Ted Ed video discusses the Atlantic Slave Trade and its lasting effects on the world.

One Thousand Years of Slavery - TV Series | Smithsonian ChannelFrom Africa and the Caribbean to New Orleans and Istanbul, this series examines the wounds caused by slavery over a millennium, and the lasting impact it's had on individuals and society.

This Black American History Crash Course gives an overview of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

This Black American History Crash Course discusses slavery in the American Colonies, and how slavery continued even after the Transatlantic Slave Trade was abolished in 1808.

This Black American History Crash Course discusses the Slave Codes in America.

Want more from Black American History Crash Course? You can find the full playlist here.