History
Time and Place: 1661: Slavery in English America
Module code: V1386
Level 5
15 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Lecture, Seminar
Assessment modes: Coursework
In 1661, the Barbados Assembly passed the first law in English North America to codify racial slavery. This law determined, for the first time, that enslaved Black people could be treated as property, as 鈥渃hattel鈥. It was amended several times, but what was set down in 1661 served as the blueprint for all other 鈥渟lave codes鈥 which were established in English American colonies. In this module we will put the 1661 Barbados slave code into context, to understand why this document represents such a significant moment in the history of transatlantic and racial slavery. This will include tracing the development of ideas about race and gender in English North America to understand how racial slavery emerged and was understood. We will also explore the role of free people of European and African heritage in upholding the practices of slavery; and finally, we will examine how slavery was experienced and resisted by enslaved Africans. In this module we will consider broader questions related to histories of colonisation and empire in the early modern Atlantic world. We will study this history from many perspectives using a range of historical sources such as plantation and legal records, travel writing, and material culture.
Module learning outcomes
- Critically evaluate the historiography around a particular moment.
- Critically evaluate the applicability of historical concepts to particular cases.
- Supply evidence of these skills in extended essay form.
- Demonstrate ability to use limited amounts of primary source material in extended historical argument.