The Plantation System
Driving Question: How was slavery in the Atlantic plantation system different from earlier forms of slavery?
The millions of Africans who were enslaved and forced to work in the Americas provided the labor that fueled the plantation system. This system enriched slavers as well as European empires. Enslaved people were treated as property, and the transatlantic slave trade was accompanied by the development of racial theories and ideologies that sought to justify the enslavement of Africans based on perceived racial hierarchies.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand and critique the motives and justifications for the transatlantic slave trade.
- Evaluate how conceptions of race affected communities and labor systems.
As you prepare to learn about enslavement and the plantation system, this activity asks you to examine an image and compare it to what you already know.
Understanding the economic motivations behind the system of enslavement and plantations will help students understand why it started and why people perpetuated this horrific system. It will also help prepare them to understand how European empires became so wealthy and how raw materials from plantations helped power the Industrial Revolution.
Slavery has existed for thousands of years. In these two articles and activity, we grapple with the unique system of enslavement that emerged in the sixteenth-century Americas.
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Guiding Questions
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Guiding Questions
This graphic bio begins with a quote from historian Vincent Brown’s 2020 book, Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War. He argues that revolts like those covered in this graphic biography should not be studied in isolation but understood as a complex, ongoing war against the institutions and injustices of slavery and the slave trade. You can find an overview of his argument in this time.com article.
About 12 million Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade. Once in the Americas, many enslaved Africans participated in rebellions and revolutions to reclaim their freedom.
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Guiding Questions
Now that you’ve finished the lesson, use this quick closer to think about what you’ve learned.
