Teaching resources on Atlantic World and African Diaspora history

A few teaching resources on the history of the Atlantic World and the African Diaspora (undergraduate level).

Community-sourced guidelines on writing & teaching about slavery by P. Gabrielle Foreman et al., URL

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Teaching resources Atlantic World and African Diaspora history. Vodka bottle in the shape of a slave ship with title Absolute Power — Hank Willis Thomas, Absolute Power (2003)

Page Contents

Atlantic Slave Trade, 1450-1870

Syllabus for an introduction course on the history of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1450-1870 in a British university (hence a focus on the British world). It covers material for a semester of 12 weeks with 2 lectures and 1 seminar a week. Each class includes a discussion of a contemporary artwork (“art of the day”) painting, sculpture, poetry, song, related to the topic of the class.

Teaching resources Atlantic World and African Diaspora history. A man in a black jacket is standing in front of the camera — Photograph of Dr Paul Gilroy, author of the Black Atlantic (1993)

The Black Atlantic and African Diaspora

Syllabus for an upper-level course around Paul Gilroy’s book, The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness on how slavery, the slave trade, & their legacies shaped the modern world. The course not only studies the book itself, it also covers the author’s influences and some of the works he influenced, or the nuts and bolts of historical scholarship. Most materials are secondary sources on Black cultural, political and intellectual studies. I also included historical sources discussed in the book so that students could compare their interpretation with Gilroy’s. Each class begins with a contemporary artwork (“art of the day”).

Teaching resources Atlantic World and African Diaspora history. Portrait of a man wearing a black bicorn hat with a feather and a pink jacket — Lubaina Himid, 1792 (2015) or portrait of Toussaint Louverture

Haitian Revolution (1790-1820)

This syllabus is for a course on the Haitian Revolution. In each class, students give a presentation on a “debate” in Haitian history and scholarship. The material is organized chronologically over 10 weeks. A “song of the day” starts each class to give the students a sample of the rich and varied musical tradition of Haitian artists.

Modern Black British History

A list of resources on Black British history is on my website on Black history in the North East here. It’s a great teaching resource on Atlantic World and African Diaspora history.