American Slaves and African Masters Algiers and the Western Sahara, 1776-1820

by Sears, Christine E.

• ISBN13: 9781137268662
• ISBN10: 1137268662
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-09-18
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Whether by falling prey to Algerian corsairs or crashing onto the desert shores of Western Sahara, a handful of Americans in the first years of the Republic found themselves enslaved in a system that differed so markedly from nineteenth century U.S. slavery that some contemporaries and modern scholars hesitate to categorize their experiences as 'slavery.' Sears uses a comparative approach, placing African enslavement of Americans and Europeans in the context of Mediterranean and Ottoman slaveries, while individually investigating the system of slavery in Algiers and Western Sahara. This work illuminates the commonalities and peculiarities of these slaveries, while contributing to a growing body of literature that showcases the flexibility of slavery as an institution.

Author Biography

Christine E. Sears is an assistant professor of History at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where she teaches classes on the Atlantic world, the early American republic, and comparative slavery. Her research interests include the maritime world, impressment, gender, and slavery during the early American republic.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction: Remembering the "Horror of Mahometan Vassalage"	p. 1
"This World Is Full of Vicissitudes"	p. 7
Algiers
"Far Distant from Our Country, Families, Friends, and Connections": American Slaves in Ottoman Algiers	p. 27
"Once a Citizen of the United States of America, But at Present the Most Miserable Slave": Americans and Slave Community	p. 43
"American Livestock, Now Slaves in Algiers": Elite Slaves in Ottoman Algiers	p. 65
"We Set No Great Value upon Money": A Slave Economy	p. 87
Western Sahara
"Sons of Sorrow": American Slaves in the Western Sahara	p. 109
"Clear the Country of All You Christian Dogs": The Business of Redemption	p. 135
Epilogue: A Different Kind of Slavery	p. 157
Notes	p. 163
Bibliography	p. 213
Index	p. 233
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