
Recaptured Africans
Surviving Slave Ships, Detention, and Dislocation in the Final Years of the Slave Trade
Sharla M. Fett(Author)
The University of North Carolina Press
Published on 30. August 2018
Book
Paperback/Softback
312 pages
978-1-4696-4551-3 (ISBN)
Description
In the years just before the Civil War, during the most intensive phase of American slave-trade suppression, the U.S. Navy seized roughly 2,000 enslaved Africans from illegal slave ships and brought them into temporary camps at Key West and Charleston. In this study, Sharla Fett reconstructs the social world of these ""recaptives"" and recounts the relationships they built to survive the holds of slave ships, American detention camps, and, ultimately, a second transatlantic voyage to Liberia. Fett also demonstrates how the presence of slave-trade refugees in southern ports accelerated heated arguments between divergent antebellum political movements-from abolitionist human rights campaigns to slave-trade revivalism-that used recaptives to support their claims about slavery, slave trading, and race.
By focusing on shipmate relations rather than naval exploits or legal trials, and by analyzing the experiences of both children and adults of varying African origins, Fett provides the first history of U.S. slave-trade suppression centered on recaptive Africans themselves. In so doing, she examines the state of ""recaptivity"" as a distinctive variant of slave-trade captivity and situates the recaptives' story within the broader diaspora of ""Liberated Africans"" throughout the Atlantic world.
By focusing on shipmate relations rather than naval exploits or legal trials, and by analyzing the experiences of both children and adults of varying African origins, Fett provides the first history of U.S. slave-trade suppression centered on recaptive Africans themselves. In so doing, she examines the state of ""recaptivity"" as a distinctive variant of slave-trade captivity and situates the recaptives' story within the broader diaspora of ""Liberated Africans"" throughout the Atlantic world.
Reviews / Votes
Riveting narrative of untold story of slavery. . . . Groundbreaking and firmly places itself in the category of entirely new information."" - Civil War News""Presents a revealing view of the debates over slavery, race, and empire in the years immediately preceding a war to which these issues were central. . . . Emphasizes the suffering and resilience of the recaptives, restoring agency to people whose experiences are too often seen as abstractions."" - Publishers Weekly, starred review
""Provide[s] telling accounts and analysis of the ways that Americans were forced to move from abstractions to actions regarding the slave trade and issues of race. In that, it speaks to our own day."" - Library Journal
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chapel Hill
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Illustrations
16 halftones, 1 map, 1 graph, 5 tables
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
527 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4696-4551-3 (9781469645513)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Sharla M. Fett
Recaptured Africans
Surviving Slave Ships, Detention, and Dislocation in the Final Years of the Slave Trade
E-Book
11/2016
The University of North Carolina Press
€19.49
Available for download
Person
Sharla M. Fett is professor of history at Occidental College.