Book contents
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword Beyond the Printed Word
- Introduction Finding the African Voice
- Part One Remembering Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Part Two The Verbal Arts and Everyday Objects
- Part Three Documenting Our Own Histories and Cultural Practices
- Part Four Slavery Observed: European Travelers’ Accounts
- Part Five Administrative Records
- Part Six Legal Records
- 29 Introduction:
- 30 The Expulsion of Dalu ModuA Muslim Trader in Anti-Slavery Freetown
- 31 “Being a Slave, I Was Afraid...”
- 32 Interpreting Gold Coast Supreme Court Records, SCT 5/4/19 Regina (Queen) vs. Quamina Eddoo
- 33 A Tale of Slavery and Beyond in a British Colonial Court Record
- 34 Aballow’s Story
- 35 A Case of Kidnapping and Child Trafficking in Senegal, 1916
- Part Seven Recorded Encounters with the Enslaved: Christian Workers in Africa
- Part Eight Documents from Muslim Africa
- Part Nine Living with the Past
- Index
34 - Aballow’s Story
The Experience of Slavery in Mid-Nineteenth-Century West Africa, as Told by Herself
from Part Six - Legal Records
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2013
Book contents
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword Beyond the Printed Word
- Introduction Finding the African Voice
- Part One Remembering Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Part Two The Verbal Arts and Everyday Objects
- Part Three Documenting Our Own Histories and Cultural Practices
- Part Four Slavery Observed: European Travelers’ Accounts
- Part Five Administrative Records
- Part Six Legal Records
- 29 Introduction:
- 30 The Expulsion of Dalu ModuA Muslim Trader in Anti-Slavery Freetown
- 31 “Being a Slave, I Was Afraid...”
- 32 Interpreting Gold Coast Supreme Court Records, SCT 5/4/19 Regina (Queen) vs. Quamina Eddoo
- 33 A Tale of Slavery and Beyond in a British Colonial Court Record
- 34 Aballow’s Story
- 35 A Case of Kidnapping and Child Trafficking in Senegal, 1916
- Part Seven Recorded Encounters with the Enslaved: Christian Workers in Africa
- Part Eight Documents from Muslim Africa
- Part Nine Living with the Past
- Index
Summary
In 1851, the acting judicial assessor of the British settlements on the Gold Coast investigated a case of suspected slave-dealing by a European trader. In this investigation, an enslaved woman by the name of Aballow, a number of her fellow slaves, and other Africans appeared as witnesses and testified about her experiences. Their testimonies provide a rare and exceptionally rich account of the career and experiences of a female slave in West Africa in the era of the illegal slave trade. This chapter addresses how reliable are these testimonies and how do they contribute to the understanding of the experience of slavery and the slave trade. To suppress the Atlantic slave trade in November 1851 the British authorities at Accra investigated the affairs of the British trader, John Marman. Marman's household in Accra comprised a large number of slaves who were employed in domestic service.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade , pp. 387 - 403Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013