“A Critical Era for the Slave Trade: Salem, Massachusetts and Bristol, Rhode Island, 1781-1808”

In 1787, Rhode Island became the first state to bar its residents from engaging in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and in 1788 Massachusetts did the same. Despite this, over the next twenty years, almost 40,000 Africans arrived in the New World aboard ships from these two states. This talk will examine the often-neglected topic of US slave trading in the wake of the American Revolution by focusing on the ports of Salem, Massachusetts and Bristol, Rhode Island. Neither town had been a major slave-trading port prior to the Revolution, but after independence merchants in both saw the “Guinea trade” as a solution to their financial woes. Their paths, however, soon diverged: Salem soon abandoned slave trading, while Bristol went on to dominate the commerce in captives until final abolition in 1808. The two ports provide a unique window into the complex world of American slave trading in a critical era, with political pull, community action, and financial legerdemain all playing a role. This talk is part of the GLC Brown Bag Lunch Series. Bring your lunch and we’ll provide the drinks & dessert.