If We Must Die: Shipboard Insurrections in the Era of the Atlantic Slave TradeIf We Must Die examines nearly five hundred shipboard rebellions that occurred over the course of the entire slave trade, directly challenging the prevailing thesis that such resistance was infrequent or insignificant. As Eric Robert Taylor shows, though most revolts were crushed quickly, others raged on for hours, days, or weeks, and, occasionally, the Africans captured the vessel and returned themselves to freedom. In recounting these rebellions, Taylor suggests that certain factors like geographic location, the involvement of women and children, and the timing of a shipboard revolt, determi. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Enslavement Detention and the Middle Passage | 15 |
Conditions Favorable for Revolt | 41 |
Unsuccessful Revolts | 104 |
A New Wave | 139 |
Conclusion | 164 |
Chronology of Shipboard Slave Revolts 15091865 | 179 |
Notes | 215 |
Bibliography | 241 |
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Common terms and phrases
African American African coast Africans on board Americas Amistad Atlantic Slave Trade attempted Bight of Benin Bight of Biafra Black Ordeal Boston News-Letter Boston Post-Boy Bristol British Transatlantic Slave brutal Cape Coast Castle Capt captives captured Clarkson crew members crewmen killed death December deck Dutch Eltis England English ship enslavement escape Falconbridge France freedom Gambia River Gold Coast Guinea history of shipboard incident insurrectionists June Liverpool Lloyd's List Lloyd's List London Mettas Middle Passage Munford Nantes nearby Negroes occurred overboard Pennsylvania Gazette Pennsylvania Gazette Philadelphia Postma recaptured Répertoire revolt aboard Royal African Company sail sailors Senegambia September ship’s shipboard insurrections shipboard rebellion shipboard resistance shipboard revolts shipboard slave insurrections Sierra Leone slave rebellion slave resistance slave ships Slavery slaves killed slaves on board slaving voyages Snelgrave successful Successful-freedom Thomas Transatlantic Slave Trade TST CD University Press Unsuccessful vessel Virginia Gazette Whydah Bight William women York