Contemporary Slavery & Antislavery Resources

Abolition of Slavery in Spain

Site commemorating the 120th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Spain; provides Spanish-language resources on antislavery history.

Abraham Lincoln Net

The Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project at Northern Illinois University contains a wide array of digital materials, many of them relating to slavery. The site includes teaching plans and streaming video presentations; an excellent teaching resource.

AfriGeneas - African American and African Ancestored Genealogy

Extensive website on African American genealogy, with information on slave records and a searchable runaway slave advertisement feature.

The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record

A collection of a thousand digital images related to the slave trade and slavery, assembled by Jerome S. Handler and Michael L. Tuite, Jr. Sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the Digital Media Lab at the University of Virginia Library.

Africa and Slavery - African History on the Internet

Electronic resource list maintained at Stanford University.

Africa Focus

University of Wisconsin project in Africana digitization; contains limited antislavery materials.

Africana Heritage

University of South Florida project to document the lives of former slaves and their descendants.

African American Mosaic

A Library of Congress guide for studying black history and culture. Topics include colonization and Liberia, abolitionists and slavery, western migration and homesteading, and ex-slave narratives.

Africans in America

Legacy website of a 1998 PBS documentary, 'Africans in America.' Contains educational information on history of slavery.

Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy: 1719-1820

Massive database on over 100,000 African American slaves in Louisiana during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Website produced by Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, the Center for the Public Domain, and University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.

Afrolumens Project

Online county-level database on slavery in central Pennsylvania, with many more historical resources. Excellent site.

Amazing Grace: An Anthology of Poems about Slavery, 1660-1810

Table of contents and introductory essay from James Basker's anthology of antislavery poems (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002).

American Anti-slavery Group

A Boston-based group active in present-day antislavery work. Website oriented towards current news in the field, with special attention to Sudan.

Amistad Research Center

Located at Tulane University and named in honor of the slave ship revolt, the Center is one of the largest research centers in African American history.

Amistad: Seeking Freedom in Connecticut

A National Park Service site providing information on the sites in Connecticut associated with the Amistad slave ship revolt.

Amistad Trial Home Page

University of Missouri - Kansas City law school website with full materials on the Amistad case.

Anti-Slavery International

Founded in 1839, Anti-slavery International is one of the oldest human rights organizations. Its annual reviews and reports provide authoritative information on contemporary slavery issues. An excellent website with up-to-date information.

L’association Les Anneaux de la Mémoire

French-language site on the history of slavery. The Association has an extensive list of its educational publications.

Bad Subjects -- Slaveries Issue (#69)

Journal issue on contemporary slaveries.

BBC World Service - Slavery Today Programme

British Broadcasting Corporation program providing stories from contemporary slavery; broadcast 2005 and available in audio files.

Been Here So Long: Selections from the WPA American Slave Narratives

Electronic education project in the slave narratives compiled by the Federal Writers Project, produced by the New Deal Network.

Beneath the Underground: The Flight to Freedom and Communities in Antebellum Maryland

A digital project of the Maryland State Archives to document the Underground Railroad, with case studies and interactive materials.

Beyond Face Value

An online exhibit on the depiction of slaves on Confederate currency. A project of the US Civil War Center at Louisiana State University.

Black History at Harper's Weekly, 1857-1874

Reports on slavery, the Civil War, and Reconstruction, originally published in Harper's Weekly magazine.

Black Loyalist Heritage Society

African Canadian historical society in Nova Scotia dedicated to preserving the history of its fugitive slave community and their descendants.

Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from Federal Writers' Project

Library of Congress site. Presents 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 photographs of former slaves.

Breaking the Silence - Antislavery International

International educational site on the transatlantic slave trade, with numerous school lesson plans. Co-sponsored by UNESCO's Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project and the British Council.

Break the Chain Campaign

A District of Columbia-based campaign on issues of enslaved domestic labor in the United States.

British Abolitionists: Slavery, Abolition, and Emancipation in the UK

Useful summary biographies on British abolitionists, original texts, timelines, and more.

Brown University - Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice

University committee appointed in 2003 at Brown University to investigate institutional involvement in the early slave trade. Site contains significant resources, including a series of reports and teaching materials. The committee released its final report in October 2006.

'Bury Me in a Free Land'

Online exhibit concerning the abolitionist movement in Indiana, organized by Gwendolyn Crenshaw and the Indiana Historical Bureau. An excellent exhibit with extensive primary documentation.

California Underground Railroad

California State University - Sacramento library website on the little-known California branch of the Underground Railroad.

Center Against Violence and Human Trafficking

Website of anti-trafficking center established in Perm, Russia; includes both Russian- and English-language materials.

Civil War and Reconstruction (1850-1877)

This site provides documents and images for learning about "fugitive from labor" cases and black soldiers in the Civil War. The site includes Civil War photos by Mathew Brady and letters, telegrams, and photos illustrating factors that affected the Civil War.

Classics on American Slavery

Digitized texts of early twentieth-century scholarship on slavery; provided free of charge by a commercial company, Dinsmore Documentation. Includes selections from Journal of Negro History.

Coalition Against Slavery in Mauritania and Sudan

Activist US anti-slavery organization.

Coalition of Immokalee Workers Anti-Slavery Campaign

Website on Florida citrus slavery and Department of Justice prosecutions.

Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking

A Los Angeles-based anti-trafficking organization.

Code Noir (1)

English-language translation of the 1685 French Code Noir; from George Mason University.

Code Noir (2)

English-language translation of the 1685 French Code Noir; published by Washington State University - Vancouver.

Comite contre l'Esclavage Moderne - Victims of Trafficking

A two-portal website, with a French-language portion for the Comite contre l'Esclavage Moderne and a multilingual site on Victims of Trafficking. Sponsored by the Daphne Program of the European Commission. The Comite site has up-to-date news on trafficking; the second site area provides information on NGOs working on issues of trafficking.

Comite pour la Memoire de l'Esclavage

Site of official French governmental commission for memorialization of slavery and its abolition.

Connecticut Freedom Trail

Website on the history of the Underground Railroad, the Amistad case, and more; sponsored by the Connecticut Historical Commission.

Daywalka Foundation

A US-based NGO committed to ending human trafficking and modern day slavery by advancing the rule of law and equity for women and children in South Asia.

Digital Archeology Archive of Chesapeake Slavery

Focuses on enslaved Africans and their descendants living in the Chesapeake region of Virginia during the colonial and antebellum periods. The site provides analyses of artifacts, deposits, and architectural plans from different sites, including Monticello, Mount Vernon, Stratford Hall, and Williamsburg.

Digital History - Slavery

A resource page on the history of US slavery, organized chronologically; useful for basic subject education.

Death or Liberty - Gabriel, Nat Turner, and John Brown

University of Virginia electronic exhibit on three antislavery revolts; includes digital documents.

The Dred Scott Case

Washington University electronic exhibition on the Dred Scott case.

Earth Rights International - 'We Are Not Free To Work For Ourselves'

A 2002 report on forced labor in Burma, based on interviews with forced laborers.

Editing Antislavery Poems

Syllabus of Boston College course in editing antislavery poems, taught by Alan Richardson. Provides online examples of annotated antislavery poetry.

Emancipation Proclamation

National Archives website with enlargeable digital images of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Expansion and Reform (1801-1868)

This site features maps, documents, and images for learning about the Lewis and Clark expedition, the growth of regionalism, the Amistad case, Lincoln's "spot resolutions," the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the petition of Amelia Bloomer regarding suffrage in the West, migration north to Alaska and the Sioux Treaty of 1868.

Exploring Amistad at Mystic Seaport

An educational site on the Amistad Revolt.

Feminist Sexual Ethics Project - Contemporary Slavery

Site introducing issues relating to contemporary slavery, slave-like conditions, and sexual slavery; produced and maintained at Brandeis University; includes materials in Arabic.

Flight to Freedom

An interactive online game that enables participants to trace routes of the Underground Railroad. Located at Bowdoin College.

Forced Labor - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Section of the Holocaust Encyclopedia on forced labor during the World War II era, including streaming video interviews with survivors and links to further materials on the subject.

Forced Labor Camps

An online exhbition on the Soviet gulag system, organized by the Open Society Archives at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.

Freedom Denied: Forced Labor in California

A 2005 report from the Human Rights Center at University of California - Berkeley on forced labor in California during 1998-2003.

Francis Bok's Escape from Slavery and Contemporary Slave Narratives

Review essay.

Frederick Douglass National Historic Site

National Park Service website for Douglass' historic home in Anacostia, District of Columbia.

Frederick Douglass Papers

Library of Congress site. Presents the papers of the 19th-century African-American abolitionist who escaped from slavery and became an outspoken antislavery lecturer, writer, and publisher.

Frederick Douglass Papers Project

Website accompanying the Indiana University project for the scholarly editing of the papers of Frederick Douglass.

Frederick Douglass Project

Digitization project at University of Rochester for the papers of Frederick Douglass; includes materials for teachers.

Freedmen's Bureau Online

Website containing records of the post-emancipation Freedmen's Bureau.

Freedmen and Southern Society Project

University of Maryland site accompanying its 30 year-old and pioneering documentation publishing project on emancipation and its social aftermath. Site contains many sample digital documents.

Freedom's Journal

The first African American newspaper, established in 1827. Digitization provided by the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Free the Slaves

A non-profit organization seeking to end slavery worldwide. Provides reputable field reports.

German Forced Labour Compensation Programme

Informational website maintained by the International Organisation for Migration, regarding administration of the German Forced Labour Compensation Programme established by German law in 2000 for compensation of slave labor. Site in English, French, German, and Spanish, with activity updates.

Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition

Updated information on transatlantic slavery studies at Yale University.

Gilder Lehrman Center Bibliography of Online Documents

A collection of over 200 digitized documents on slavery, abolition, and post-emancipation. Includes extensive materials on Frederick Douglass.

History Now

Second issue of History Now (December 2004), an online history journal sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Center; devoted to primary documents of slavery; a good teaching resource.

Histoire de l'esclavage en Martinique

French-language site, with some English, on the history of slavery in Martinique; includes educational materials.

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center

Interpretive historical center in Hartford, Connecticut, devoted to the legacy of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.'

Harriet Jacobs Papers

Located at Pace University, the project is engaged in producing a scholarly edition of the papers of Harriet Jacobs.

Harriet Jacobs - Selected Writings and Correspondence

A collection of 15 documents and a brief resource guide to books and online resources, created by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition with the assistance and cooperation of Jean Fagin Yellin.

Harriet Tubman Resource Centre on the African Diaspora

Significant collection of digital resources concerning the African diaspora; based at the Department of History at York University.

Harriet Wilson Project

The Harriet Wilson Project seeks to raise awareness of Harriet Wilson and her literary work, and to educate the public on her contribution to American history and literature.

Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States

A 2004 report from the Human Rights Center at University of California - Berkeley and the Free the Slaves organization, concerning contemporary trafficking and slavery in the United States.

H-Slavery

The H-Slavery discussion list seeks to promote interaction and exchange among scholars engaged in research on slavery, the slave trade, abolition, and emancipation.

In Motion Project

Project of the Schomburg Center for Black Culture, tracing African American migrations. Deals significantly with slavery.

Institute for the Study of Slavery

A leading British research center in slavery studies, located at University of Nottingham.

International Labour Office -- Report: Global Action to Combat Forced Labour

Extensive report by the International Labour Office providing quantative data on the phenonena of forced labor and trafficking. Published May 2005.

La Strada International Women's Rights Centre (Ukraine)

Ukrainian, Russian, and English-language site on trafficking, forced labor, and its victims in the Ukraine.

"The Late Unpleasantness in Idaho: Southern Slavery and the Culture Wars"

Essay by William Ramsey, assistant professor of history at University of Idaho, on the appearance of pro-slavery literature on campus in December 2004.

Lest We Forget

An electronic presentation developed by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture for the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition.

Liberian Letters

A set of letters written from Liberia during 1834-1835 and 1857-1866 by ex-slaves sponsored by the American Colonization Society. Project of the Electronic Text Center at University of Virginia.

The Lovejoy Society

Illinois-based society dedicated to making available information on abolitionist Owen Lovejoy (brother to Elijah Lovejoy). Site includes some digitized speeches, sermons, and essays.

Memories of Slavery

Searchable database on cultural images of slavery; created and maintained at Universitat Trier.

Merseyside Maritime Museum - Transatlantic Slavery Exhibition

Permanant exhibition and website at the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool (UK) on the transatlantic slave trade, including audio file readings of Olaudah Equiano and others.

Nationaal Instituut Nederlands Slavernijverleden

Dutch-language site in the Netherlands for the National Monument of Slavery History.

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Opened in August 2004, a national center dedicated to the history of slavery, freedom, and contemporary civil rights.

Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property

Companion website to a PBS documentary on the Nat Turner revolt.

Old Sturbridge Village - Antislavery

Lesson plan on mid-nineteenth-century antislavery, with digital documents for study; appropriate for secondary students. Produced by Old Sturbridge Village.

Our Shared History, African American Heritage: Underground Railroad

Electronic resources of the National Park Service relating to the Underground Railroad.

Owen Lovejoy Homestead

Historic home of Underground Railroad operator and antislavery journalist Owen Lovejoy; presently a museum.

Race Slavery and Petitions Project

Located at University of North Carolina at Greensboro and directed by Loren Schweninger, the Project has collected approximately 3,000 legislative petitions, 15,500 county court petitions, and over 100,000 pages of documentary evidence relating to slavery. The database is in an easy-to-access format and recommended for research purposes.

Rebellion: John Horse and the Black Seminoles, First Black Rebels to Beat American Slavery

A skillfully-designed, heavily-researched, and deep history education site on the Black Seminoles and their revolt against slavery.

Red Light, Green Light: The Global Trafficking of Women

Discusses the international sex trafficking industry, including the women and girls who work as entertainment girls, hospitality girls, prostitutes, and massage girls.

Remembering Slavery

A Smithsonian Institution website based on the book 'Remembering Slavery.' It features RealAudio sound files of the voices of former slaves, recorded in the early twentieth century.

Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection

Digital home of one of the richest collections of antislavery materials, originally gathered by abolitionist Samuel J. May and donated to Cornell University. Excellent site for information searches.

Secession Era Editorials Project

Furman University digitization project with editorials on the Nebraska Bill, the caning of Sumner, Dred Scott, and Harper's Ferry.

Sex Slavery and Queer Resistance in Eastern Europe

Recent slavery studies essay.

Slave Movement During the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

University of Wisconsin-Madison site provides raw data and documentation of the eighteenth and nineteenth-century transatlantic slave trade.

Slave Voices from the Duke University Special Collection Library

A 1995 Duke University exhibit of rare documents relating to slavery.

Slave Trade Archive Project

UNESCO project established in 1999 to document the Atlantic slave trade. Project sponsored numerous digitization initiatives; now complete.

Slavery and Emancipation in Washington, DC

Bibliography and electronic resources list on history of slavery in the District of Columbia.

Slavery and the Making of America

PBS documentary website on the history of US slavery, with streaming media and substantial information.

Slavery Era Insurance Registry

Database of slave insurance records; maintained by California state government by legislative provision.

Slavery in America

Website accompanying the PBS series 'Slavery in America'. Contains extensive literature and teaching resources; note the 'Roads to Freedom' multimedia section on means by which slaves gained freedom.

Slavery in the North

State-by-state exploration of the history of slavery in northern US states.

Slavery Resources - Washington State University-Vancouver

Collection of electronic resources on slavery from Sue Peabody, associate professor of history at Washington State University.

'Slavery - The Peculiar Institution' - Library of Congress

Part of the African American Odyssey online exhbition from the Library of Congress; includes digitized images of original documents on slavery.

Slaves and the Courts: 1740 - 1860

Collection of approximately 100 digitized rare pamphlets and books documenting the US legal history of slavery; produced by the Library of Congress.

Slave-Studies Net

Guide to online materials relating to slavery; online images and sound file section especially useful; created and maintained at the Library of the European University Institute, Florence, Italy.

The Southern Debate Over Slavery

Website accompanying Loren Schweninger's 'The Southern Debate Over Slavery' (University of Illinois Press); provides electronic versions of antebellum slavery petitions to legislatures of southern states.

'Steal Away, Steal Away': A Guide to the Underground Railroad in New Jersey

Guide produced in 2002 by the New Jersey Historical Commission.

Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture

A multimedia archive of Uncle Tom's Cabin and cultural reactions and interpretations in the United States. An excellent teaching resource. Located at University of Virginia.

The Underground Railroad: Finding Freedom in the Niagara Region

A Canadian multimedia presentation on the history of the Underground Railroad and the fugitives it brought to Canada.

UNESCO - 2004: Slavery Abolition Year

UNESCO site containing information on the 2004 International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition. Contains links to the Slave Routes project and Slave Trade Archives project.

United Nations Commission on Human Rights

Report on 'Systematic Rape, Sexual Slavery, and Slavery-like Practices in Armed Conflicts'; published 2002.

United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - Slavery Convention

Text of the 1927 Slavery Convention and list of its signatories.

United Nations - Commissioner for Human Rights - Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery

Official website of the UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, with available reports from the early 1990s.

Universitat Trier - Slavery Research Training Group

Graduate studies group in 'Slavery, Serfdom and Forced Labor: Forms of Unfree Life and Labour from Antiquity to the 20th Century.' German-language site, with some English.

United States National Slavery Museum

The United States National Slavery Museum is scheduled to open in Frederickburg, Virginia in 2007. Its website is already functional.

US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report, 2006

US State Department's annual trafficking report.

US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report, 2005

US State Department's annual trafficking report.

US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report, 2004

The US State Department annual Trafficking in Persons Report, 2004.

US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report, 2003

US State Department annual report.

US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report, 2002

US State Department annual report.

US State Department Trafficking in Persons Report, 2001

US State Department annual report.

Valley of the Shadow

Educational exercise on slavery based on masters' wills; developed by the University of Virginia.

Victor Schoelcher et l'abolition de l'esclavage en 1848

A commemorative site for the work of French abolitionist Victor Schoeler.

Sex Slaves

A PBS documentary on global sex slavery, broadcast in February 2006.

Virginia Runaways

Searchable collection of runaway slave advertisements; part of the Virtual Jamestown online exhibit.

Voices from the Days of Slavery: Former Slaves Tell Their Story

Library of Congress site featuring audio recordings made of people who experienced slavery first-hand, providing a unique opportunity to listen to them describe their lives in their own voices. These interviews conducted between 1932 and 1975, capture the recollections of twenty-three identifiable ex-slaves, people born between 1823 and the early 1860s.

Through the Lens of Time: Images of African Americans from the Cook Collection of Photographs

Searchable database of 19th and 20th-century images of African Americans, digitized by Virginia Commonwealth University.

Voyages en Afrique

An extensive French-language site maintained by the Bibliotheque Nationale, including over 900 books and large collections of journals, maps and photographs. Contains significant materials on slavery and the slave trade.

Wachovia Slavery Report

A report by the Wachovia Corporation on historical links to slavery through its predecessor corporations.

WarSlavery

A campaign to stop US taxpayer-sponsored trafficking in Iraq; in association with Free the Slaves.

Whispers of Angels

Award-winning 2002 documentary on the Underground Railroad, and the work of Thomas Garrett, William Still, and Harriet Tubman.

Wikipedia - Slavery Article

Wikipedia is a free online popular encyclopedia. The 'Slavery' article is useful and contains many links to other sources of information on the Internet.

L'abolition - Les abolitions des esclavages

A French-language teaching site on the history of slavery and abolition, with digital documents.

Wilberforce 2007

Hull's 2007 bicentennial site commemorating abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, focusing on British abolitionist William Wilberforce.

William Still Underground Railroad Foundation

Website of a New Jersey non-profit dedicated to commemorating the Underground Railroad and William Still's role

Yale Slavery

Exploration of institutional profit from slavery and the history of antislavery at Yale University. Site sponsored by the Amistad Committee.

Young Koreans United - Justice for Comfort Women Project

A Los Angeles-based Korean American organization that sponsors an educational and legal project to obtain justice for Korean women forced into prostitution by Japanese military forces during World War II.

In The Land of Slavery

A 2005 investigative report on contemporary Brazilian slavery, by Osha Gray Davidson in Rolling Stone Magazine.

Comité pour la Mémoire de l'Esclavage

Reports of the official French commission on public education concerning the history of slavery.

Comite contre l'esclavage moderne

French-language site concerning contemporary slavery in France and the world; includes legal reports on slavery prosecutions in France.

Parliament and the British Slave Trade 1600-1807

A bicentennial site on the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, produced by the British House of Lords. Contains audiio readings of antislavery materials and large numbers of digitized parliamentary records.

Bunce Island Project

Site concerned with the history of Bunce Island, a British slave castle in Sierra Leone.

Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits

A 2007-2008 photography exhibition by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, included many antebellum images of slaves and ex-slaves.

Massachusetts Historical Society - Images of the Antislavery Movement in Massachusetts

Website provides unique visual resources relating to the antislavery movement, from holdings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The site has the best available digital portrait collection of antislavery personalities.

The Liberator Files

A site featuring selected articles from William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper, The Liberator. Associated with the Boston African American National Historic Site.

Black Abolitionist Archives

The Black Abolitionist Archives is a research center devoted to study of the African American struggle against slavery. The page link leads to archive holdings.