Focus: The nature and impact of the slave trade between West Africa and the American South
Content and concepts
· West Africa before the European slave trade · The nature of slavery in West Africa before Europeans · Slavery in the American south - Plantations: tobacco, rice, sugar cane and cotton - Reasons for using slave labour - How slaves were captured, sold and transported from West Africa - Slave markets - Numbers of slaves that were taken to America - What happened to the raw materials that slaves produced
· The impact of the transatlantic slave trade on slaves - What it was like to be a plantation slave in the American South o Slave culture in songs and stories o Resistance to slavery: individual responses, e.g. sluggishness, passivity, indifference, shirking, alcoholism, flight, suicide, arson, murdering owners o Rebellion against slavery o Nat Turner’s revolt 1831 o Joseph Cinque and the Amistad mutiny 1839 o The Underground Railroad (an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by escaping slaves) o Harriet Tubman: slave who escaped to freedom, and helped other slaves to escape o The story of John Brown and his mission to abolish slavery
· The impact of the transatlantic slave trade on the economies of: - West Africa - America and Britain - Gains for America and Britain and negative impact on West Africa |