Africans in the Americas: Discussion Questions from Lepore, Benjamin, Articles, and Film

This resource was developed as part of the AHA’s Globalizing the US History Survey project. 

 

By Carlos Contreras

Institution: Grossmont College

Location: El Cajon, CA

Year: 2016

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Handouts:

• “A Day on a Coffee Estate” by Stanley Stein
• “Brazil’s Link for African Americans” (LA Times article)

Carefully answer the following questions before we see the film clip: Questions 1–7 are from Lepore; 8–9 from handouts; 10–13 from film “Terrible Transformation”; and 14–17 from Benjamin’s The Atlantic World. Be expansive; these are very important primary sources and articles.

1. “Kidnapped” by Olaudah Equiano (p. 130–32)
   What does this document tell us about the institution of slavery?
2. “Tips for Slave Traders” (132–33)
   1. What tips do the owners of the Dispatch issue to the captain before he sets out for Africa and subsequently the West Indies or South Carolina in 1725?
   2. What is the importance of George Kingston’s journal? (134–35)
3. “Ships of Death” (135–36)
   What does this document by Olaudah Equiano tell us about the transatlantic voyage, the “middle” passage of the African slave trade to the Americas?
4. “For Sale” (137–38)
   Tell us about the importance of this article written by Mary Prince (early 19th century).
5. “Africans’ New Worlds” (138–42)
   1. What does Hugh Jones’ account, written in the 1720s, tell us about plantation slavery?
   2. What does Mary Prince’s account tell us about the vulnerability of slave women?
6. “Two Views” (142–44)
   1. What does this 1740 article from London Magazine tell us about the argument for or against slavery?
   2. What does Mary Prince say about that?
7. “Runaways and Rebels” (144–45)
   How did Black people in British North America resist slavery? What does the lieutenant governor of Virginia, William Gooch (1729) say about this?
8. Tell me about daily life for slaves from your handout “A Day on a Coffee Estate” by Stanley Stein.
9. Tell me about the significance of “Brazil’s Link for African Americans” (LA Times article)

From the film The Terrible Transformation describe the importance of the following; include details:

1. The first passage
2. “Factories”
3. The second passage (or middle passage)
4. The third passage (some have called it the “second middle passage,”, but its not really middle)
5. Benjamin’s The Atlantic World: “Africans, the Involuntary Colonists” by Fernández-Armesto, pp. 185–91. Tell me all about this very important article.
6. Benjamin’s The Atlantic World: “The Transatlantic Slave Trade” by Hugh Thomas, pp. 145–53. Tell me all about this very important article.
7. Benjamin’s The Atlantic World: “The Survival of African Religions in the Americas” by Frey & Wood, pp. 122–33. Tell me all about this very important article.