Today is UNESCO's "International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade."
The very first class I took in graduate school was a class (taught only this once, back in 1998!!) on Slavery in Brazil, so this topic has remained of great interest to me and my two publications are related to it. You may not know this, but over 90% of all Africans brought to the Americas during the period of the slave trade were taken to the Caribbean and South America and around 60% were taken to Brazil. Brazil was also the last country in the Western Hemisphere to end slavery (1888).
An amazing resource is the The Transatlantic Slave Trade Voyages Database, especially its Introductory Maps! This is the first one, but you should check the others:
I hope to continue producing more scholarship related to this topic as well as raising awareness of it's connection to Brazilian history and culture in my classes!
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Just looking at the map brings tears to my eyes. I can't begin to fathom all it represents--all the separated families, all the things these slaves must have suffered, and all the terrible things slavery did to the hearts and minds of those who "owned" these poor, kidnapped people. Because I don't think a person can "own" a slave without becoming one, in a sense.
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