Freedom Narratives focuses on the enforced migration
of "Atlantic Africans," that is enslaved Africans in the Atlantic
world during the era of the slave trade, through an examination of biographical
accounts of individuals born in West Africa who were enslaved from the 16th to
the 19th century. The focus is on testimony, the voices of individual Africans.
The Project seeks to use an online digital repository of autobiographical
testimonies and biographical data of Atlantic Africans to analyze patterns in the
slave trade from West Africa, specifically in terms of where individuals came
from, why they were enslaved, and what happened to them. Freedom Narratives
focuses on people born in Africa and hence in most cases had been born free
rather than on those who were born into slavery in the Americas or elsewhere.
Those individuals in this repository includes those who travelled within West
Africa as well as those who experienced the “Middle Passage,” i.e., the
Atlantic crossing, which is often seen as a defining moment in the slavery
experience. Sometimes these accounts are referred to as “slave narratives” but
in our estimation, such testimonies more accurately reflect "freedom
narratives" because in most cases, individuals were born free and subsequently
regained their freedom. Freedom Narratives enables an examination of
biographical testimonies as the fundamental units of analysis, whether the
primary texts arise from first person memory or survive via amanuensis.
Whenever possible, original testimonies are supplemented with biographical
details culled from legal, ecclesiastical, and other types of records.
ACESSE: http://freedomnarratives.org/
