The Enlightenment and Slavery

An age defined by lofty goals of progress, improvement, and perfection also saw the colossal expansion of race-based slavery in the Atlantic world. This course explores how people living in the 1700s reconciled the ideals of the Enlightenment with the realities of slavery. Characters include Caribbean enslavers lining their deadly plantations with coconut trees, Black slaves tracking the developments of the Haitian Revolution from American newspaper offices, and European political thinkers questioning imperial rule. With an Atlantic-focused but global perspective, we will use ideas about betterment to examine a notoriously brutal history.