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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The Black American Revolution: The American Revolution As Experienced By African Americans, Amy Kurian
The Black American Revolution: The American Revolution As Experienced By African Americans, Amy Kurian
Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal
This paper focuses on how the American Revolution mobilized the enslaved and free black population in a way that constitutes a "Black American Revolution." In particular, the enslaved population engaged in multiple efforts for freedom, ranging from fighting in the Revolutionary War to writing petitions to state legislatures. First, I present how the "slavery metaphor" propagated by white Loyalists indicates the inherent differences in how the white and black populations experienced the Revolution. There is an overall discussion of the various methods the enslaved used in their attempts to gain freedom: military service, slave petitions, freedom suits, and escape. I …
A Spirit Of Revolution: The Story Of Lt. Colonel John Laurens, Sophia A. Fossati
A Spirit Of Revolution: The Story Of Lt. Colonel John Laurens, Sophia A. Fossati
Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal
Though he has become a figure all but forgotten or merely glossed over, John Laurens (1754-1782) was the purest form of an early American hero, a pioneer for proto-abolitionism in the South, and a queer historical figure. His complex character and legacy is deserving of recognition and remembering. In this article, I intend to do just that by giving a brief historical summary of his life and person.
Why Africa? Towards A Materialist Understanding Of Racism And The African Slave Trade, Giacomo F. Green
Why Africa? Towards A Materialist Understanding Of Racism And The African Slave Trade, Giacomo F. Green
Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal
Common historical interpretations of the Atlantic slave system often lose the position Africa within the political-economic haze of the era, either producing confused accounts or eliding the question of causality altogether. I argue that this tendency stems from the corrosive effects of the historian’s position as an observer from the present, and that to understand why Africa was the prime location for the source of human slaves, one needs to take a materialist approach to the problem of origins. Only through careful examination of empire, the plantation complex, and the genesis of the Atlantic working classes can one arrive at …