The Voyage of the Slave Ship Hare
A Journey into Captivity from Sierra Leone to South Carolina
Sean M. Kelley
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 02/2016
Pages: 304
Subject: History, Social Science
| University of North Carolina
Print ISBN: 9780000000000
eBook ISBN: 9781469627694
DESCRIPTION
From 1754 to 1755, the slave ship Hare completed a journey
from Newport, Rhode Island, to Sierra Leone and back to the United
States—a journey that transformed more than seventy Africans
into commodities, condemning some to death and the rest to a life
of bondage in North America. In this engaging narrative, Sean
Kelley painstakingly reconstructs this tumultuous voyage, detailing
everything from the identities of the captain and crew to their
wild encounters with inclement weather, slave traders, and
near-mutiny. But most importantly, Kelley tracks the cohort of
slaves aboard the Hare from their purchase in Africa to
their sale in South Carolina. In tracing their complete journey,
Kelley provides rare insight into the communal lives of slaves and
sheds new light on the African diaspora and its influence on the
formation of African American culture.
In this immersive exploration, Kelley connects the story of
enslaved people in the United States to their origins in Africa as
never before. Told uniquely from the perspective of one particular
voyage, this book brings a slave ship's journey to life, giving us
one of the clearest views of the eighteenth-century slave
trade.