The Black Atlantic's triple burden: Slavery, colonialism, and reparations

by Adekeye Adebajo

Overview

This volume demonstrates the continuities of five centuries of European slavery and colonialism in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Americas, examining calls for reparations in all three regions for crimes against humanity. Authored by eminent scholars largely based in these areas, it contributes to transforming educational curricula globally. This collection is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary and enables cross-regional comparisons to be drawn, ensuring that important global events are read from diverse perspectives. The volume is aimed at subject area experts, as well as students in diverse areas of the humanities and beyond who seek a sound introductory reference book to these important historical subjects to which they are often not exposed. The authors thus represent a multi-disciplinary group encompassing diverse fields such as history, international relations, politics, economics, sociology, anthropology, literature, and languages. The book introduces readers to foreign-language historical sources — often inaccessible to an English-speaking audience — on these pivotal topics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526193018
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
Publication date:	06/10/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	564
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Adekeye Adebajo is Senior Research Fellow and Professor at the Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, University of Pretoria.

Table of Contents

Part I: Introduction: Setting the scene

Chapter 1. A Diagnosis of Global Africa’s Triple Burden: Slavery, Colonialism, and Reparations - Adekeye Adebajo
Chapter 2. Masters and Servants in Barbados and South Africa: From Enslaved Labour to Coerced “Free” Labour in the British Empire - Alan Cobley
Chapter 3. Colonialism: Mamma Italia and Her Imperial Orphan - Patrizia Palumbo
Chapter 4. Reparations for Imperialism: Legacies Beyond Slavery in the British Empire - Stephen Small

Part II: Slavery in Africa

Chapter 5. Central and Eastern Africa - Professor Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch
Chapter 6. West Africa - Martin Klein
Chapter 7. Southern Africa - Butholezwe Mtombeni

Part III: Slavery in the Caribbean and the Americas

Chapter 8. The British Caribbean - Bridget Brereton
Chapter 9. The French Caribbean - Jaime A. Falomir
Chapter 10. The Dutch Caribbean - Kwame Nimako
Chapter 11. Lusophone America - Carlos Silva Jr.
Chapter 12. The United States - Jeffrey R. Kerr-Ritchie
Chapter 13. The Role of Women in the Emancipation of North America - Dann J Broyld

Part IV: Colonialism in Africa

Chapter 14. British Africa - Samuel Igba
Chapter 15. French Africa - Douglas Yates
Chapter 16. Belgian Africa - Guy Vanthemsche
Chapter 17. Portuguese Africa - Sandra Sousa
Chapter 18. German Africa - Adam A Blackler
Chapter 19. Spanish Africa - Gustau Nerin
Chapter 20. Italian Africa - Mia Fuller

Part V: Colonialism in the Caribbean and the Americas

Chapter 21. The British Caribbean - Shelene Gomes and Scott Timcke
Chapter 22. The Dutch Caribbean - Rose Mary Allen
Chapter 23. South America - Susan Elizabeth Ramirez

Part VI: The global struggle for reparations

Chapter 24. The Caribbean - Hilary Beckles
Chapter 25. The US - Andrew Maginn
Chapter 26. Britain - Nicola Frith and Esther Stanford-Xosei
Chapter 27. Africa - Adekeye Adebajo
Chapter 28. South America - June Soomer

Index

Editorial Reviews

Sweeping across continents and centuries, this volume o_ers a deeply important collection of essays on the experiences and impacts of slavery and colonialism, as well as the possibilities and challenges of reparative justice. With its roster of some of the world’s finest and most distinguished scholars addressing these topics, The Black Atlantic’s Triple Burden should be required reading for academics and a general audience alike.”
Caroline Elkins, author of Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire

“Beginning with Adekeye Adebajo’s magisterial introduction, this volume canvasses the successive calamities for Africa of slavery and colonialism, their contemporary legacies, and the reparations movement’s efforts to interrupt their future transmission. This extraordinary collection is essential reading for anybody seeking to engage with the world-leading scholarship on these critical themes.”
Thula Simpson, author of History of South Africa: From 1902 to the Present

“Professor Adekeye Adebajo, an astute scholar of African affairs, has brought together a talented cast of scholars to produce an encyclopaedic work on the triple challenges that confront the people of the Black Atlantic. This tour de force has probed the innards of its subject, thereby helping readers to understand the battles that lie ahead.”
Selwyn R. Cudjoe, Professor Emeritus, Wellesley College, US

“The editor, Adekeye Adebajo, and his multi-disciplinary group of contributors to The Black Atlantic’s Triple Burden: Slavery, Colonialism, and Reparations must be commended for this work. These academics and advocates not only rehearse familiar themes, but also add new perspectives which together form a welcome addition to the body of work explaining the justification for reparations for historical crimes against humanity and the lingering legacies of colonialism.”
Professor Verene A. Shepherd, University of the West Indies, and a member of Jamaica’s National Council on Reparations

“This book is of uniformly high-quality scholarship and writing. It contains good variation in emphases and represents a wide sweep of historical and contemporary issues surrounding the themes of enslavement and colonialism. The collection marks a significant increase in information, insights, and public discussion about colonialism, enslavement and their legacies from authoritative scholars, many from or based in Africa. It is vital that we have books like this to provide concrete facts, concepts, and perspectives based on a massive amount of accumulated research. It is compelling reading.”
Professor Colin Samson, Essex University, England

From the Publisher