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A history of colonial Africa and of the African diaspora examining the experiences and identities of 'liberated' Africans in Sierra Leone.
List of contents
Introduction. Sierra Leone: African colony, African diaspora; 1. Liberated African origins and the nineteenth century slave trade; 2. Their own middle passage: voyages to Sierra Leone; 3. 'Particulars of disposal': life and labor after 'liberation'; 4. Liberated African nations: ethnogenesis in an African diaspora; 5. Kings and companies: ethnicity and community leadership; 6. Religion, return, and the making of the Aku; 7. The Cobolo War: Islam, identity, and resistance; Conclusion. Retention or renaissance? Krio descendants and ethnic identity; Appendices. A. 'Nations' of children in CMS school rosters by probable coastline of embarkation, 1816-1824; B. 1848 Sierra Leone census; C. Koelle's Aku informants; D. Liberated African memorials in Freetown churches; Select bibliography; Index.
About the author
Richard Peter Anderson is Lecturer in Colonial and Postcolonial History at the University of Exeter. He has published in journals including Slavery & Abolition, African Economic History, and History in Africa. He is co-editor of Liberated Africans and the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1807–1896 (forthcoming) with Henry Lovejoy.
Summary
Exploring the origins, experiences and identities of 100,000 Africans who landed in Sierra Leone following Britain's abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, this history of colonial Africa and examination of the African diaspora explores the links between emancipation, colonization, and identity formation in the Black Atlantic.
