Skip to Main Content

AFR/HIS 342: Harper

Introduction

This guide contains a long, but incomplete list of various online archives and online libraries concerning the Atlantic Slave Trade. The vast majority of these resources will offer primary sources in English, either from their original text or through translations. However, this is just a starting point and there are many hundreds more online archives that are not listed.

Full-Text Online Memoirs or Autobiographies

These works are all available for free online:

A Narrative of the Most Remarkable Particulars in the Life of James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, an African Prince by James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw (1705-1775)
Bath: Printed by W. Gye, 1770.
Edited by Walter Shirley (1725-1786)
A Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Venture, a Native of Africa: But Resident above Sixty Years in the United States of America by Venture Smith (172?-1805)
Middletown, Conn.: J. S. Stewart, 1897.
New London: Printed in 1798. Reprinted A. D. 1835, and Published by a Descendant of Venture. Revised and Republished with Traditions by H. M. Selden, Haddam, Conn., 1896.
The Blind African Slave, or Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nick-named Jeffrey Brace by Boyrereau Brinch (1742-1827)
St. Albans, Vt.: Printed by Harry Whitney, 1810.
Edited by Benjamin F. Prentiss (1774 or 5-1817)
Narrative of the Enslavement of Ottobah Cugoano, a Native of Africa; Published by Himself in the Year 1787 by Ottobah Cugoano (c.1757-after 1797)
London: Printed for the Author and Sold by Hatchard and Co., 1825.
In "The Negro's Memorial; or, Abolitionist's Catechism; by an Abolitionist" (pp. 120-127), by [Fisher, Thomas] (1781?-1836).
Memoirs of the Reign of Bossa Ahadee, King of Dahomy, an Inland Country of Guiney by Robert Norris (d. 1791)
London: Printed for W. Lowndes, 1789.
The Royal African: or, Memoirs of the Young Prince of Annamaboe
London: W. Reeve, G. Woodfall, and J. Barnes, [1750]
Biography of Mahommah G. Baquaqua, a Native of Zoogoo, in the Interior of Africa by Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua and Samuel Moore
Detroit: Geo. E. Pomeroy & Co., 1854.
Some Memoirs of the Life of Job, the Son of Solomon, the High Priest of Boonda in Africa by Thomas Bluett
London: Printed for R. Ford, 1734
An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa by Falconbridge, Alexander (d. 1792)
London, Printed by J. Phillips, 1788.
Two Voyages to Sierra Leone during the Years 1791-2-3: In a Series of Letters by Anna Maria Falconbridge
London : Printed for the author, 1794
Memoirs, of the Late Captain Hugh Crow, of Liverpool by Crow, Hugh (1765-1829)
London, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green; [etc., etc.] 1830
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African: Volume 1 by Olaudah Equiano (b. 1745)
London: Author, [1789]
Volume 2 is also available
Revelations of a Slave Smuggler: Being the Autobiography of Capt. Richard Drake, an African Trader for Fifty Years by Richard Drake
New York: R.M. DeWitt, 1860
Journal of a Slave-Dealer: A View of Some Remarkable Axcedents in the Life of Nics. Owen on the Coast of Africa and America from the Year 1746 to the Year 1757 by Nicolas Owen and Eveline Christiana Martin (ed.)
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1930
*[Found in the database HeinOnline, which may require you to login]
Secret History: or, The Horrors of St. Domingo by Mary Hassal
Philadelphia: Bradford & Inskeep, 1808
Memoirs of the Late Captain Hugh Crow, of Liverpool; Comprising a Narrative of His Life, Together with Descriptive Sketches of the Western Coast of Africa by Hugh Crow (1765-1829)
London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green; [etc., etc.], 1830
A Description of the Coasts of North and South-Guinea, and of Ethiopia Inferior, Vulgarly Angola by Jean Barbot
London: Printed by assignment by Messrs Churchill, 1732
Twenty-nine Years in the West Indies and Central Africa: A Review of Missionary Work and Adventure, 1829-1858 by Rev. Hope Masterton Waddell
London and New York [etc.]: T. Nelson and sons, 1863
Travels into the inland Parts of Africa: Containing a Description of the Several Nations for the Space of Six Hundred Miles up the River Gambia... by Francis Moore
London: Printed by E. Cave for the author, 1738.
The Travels of Mungo Park by Mungo Park
London: Dent; [1923]
Remarks on the Country Extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo... by Captain John Adams
London: G. & W. B. Whittaker, 1823
A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea, Divided into the Gold, the Slave, and the Ivory Coasts... by William Bosman
London: Printed for Sir Alfred Jones by Ballantyne, 1907
Memoirs of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart. by Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton and Charles Buxton (ed.)
London, J. Murray, 1849.
Eighteen Months in Jamaica: With Recollections of the Late Rebellion by Theodore Foulks
London: Whittaker, Treacher and Arnott, 1833.
Journal of a Residence among the Negroes in the West Indies by Matthew Gregory Lewis
London, J. Murray, 1845
Memoirs of a West-India Planter by John Riland
London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co., 1827
Voyages of the Slavers St. John and Arms of Amsterdam, 1659, 1663 by E.B. O'Callaghan
Albany, N.Y.: J. Munsell, 1867
Journal of an African Cruiser: Comprising Sketches of the Canaries, the Cape de Verds, Liberia, Madeira, Sierra Leone... by Horatio Bridge and Nathaniel Hawthorne (ed.)
New York, G.P. Putnam & Co., 1853

Two shorter narratives could also be analyzed together:

OPTION 1

Autobiography of Omar ibn Said, Slave in North Carolina, 1831 by Omar ibn Said (b.1770?)
Washington, D. C.: American Historical Association, 1925.
From The American Historical Review, 30, No. 4. (July 1925), 787-795. Edited by John Franklin Jameson (1859-1937)
A Statement with Regard to the Moorish Prince, Abduhl Rahhahman by T. H. Gallaudet (1787-1851)
New York: D. Fanshaw, 1828

OPTION 2

Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade by John Newton (1725-1807)
London: Printed for J. Buckland, in Pater-Noster Row; and J. Johnson, in St. Paul's Church-yard, [1788]
John Newton: Letters of a Slave Trader Freed by God's Grace by John Newton and paraphrased by Dick Bohrer
Chicago: Moody Press, 1983

Primary Sources or Collections of Sources within Tarver Library

These books can be found in the Mercer University Library catalog. There is a mix of both physical and electronic books available:

Adventures of an African Slaver by Theodore Canot (1804-1860) and Brantz Mayer (1809-1879)
Call Number: Tarver Stacks, Tom Watson Brown Collection, 3rd Floor: HT1322 .C58 2002

Cleveland: World Pub. Co., 1942
Also available online from HathiTrust
The Fortunate Slave: An Illustration of African Slavery in the Early Eighteenth Century by Douglas Grant
Call Number: Tarver Stacks: HT869.J6 G7

Longon: Oxford University Press, 1968
Africa Remembered; Narratives by West Africans from the Era of the Slave Trade by Philip D. Curtin (ed.)
Call Number: Tarver Stacks: DT471 .C8

Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1967
Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade by David Eltis (1940-) and David Richardson (1946-)
Call Number: Tarver Course Reserves, 2nd Floor, Circulation Desk: G2446.E625 E48 2010

New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010
Also available online as an eBook
The Blind African Slave: Or, Memoirs of Boyrereau Brinch, Nicknamed Jeffery Brace by Jeffrey Brace as told to Benjamin F. Prentiss (1774 or 1775-1817)
Call Number: ebook

Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2005
The Black Presence: A Documentary History of the Negro in England, 1555-1860 by James Walvin
Call Number: Tarver Stacks: DA125.N4 W35

New York: Schocken Books, 1972
A Slaving Voyage to Africa and Jamaica: the Log of the Sandown, 1793-1794 by Bruce L. Mouser (ed.)
Call Number: ebook

Bloomington: Indian University Press, 2002
The Diary of Antera Duke: An Eighteenth-Century African Slave Trader by Antera Duke (ca.1735-ca.1809), Stephen D. Behrendt, David A. Northrup, A. J. H. Latham
Call Number: Tarver Stacks: DT515.9.O48 B44 2010

New York: Oxford University Press, 2010
Also available online as an eBook
The Slave-Trader's Letter-Book: Charles Lamar, the Wanderer, and Other Tales of the African Slave Trade by Jim Jordan
Call Number: Tarver Stacks: E438 .J67 2018

Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2019
Two Views from Christiansborg Castle Vol I : A Brief and Truthful Description of a Journey to and from Guinea by Johannes Rask and Selena Axelrod Winsnes (ed.)
Call Number: eBook

Sub-Saharan Publishers & Traders, 2010
Two Views from Christiansborg Castle Vol II : A Description of the Guinea Coast and Its Inhabitants by H. C. Monrad and Selena Axelrod Winsnes (ed.)
Call Number: eBook

Sub-Saharan Publishers & Traders, 2010
Journal of an African Cruiser: Comprising Sketches of the Canaries, the Cape de Verds, Liberia, Madeira, Sierra Leone, and Other Places of Interest on the West Coast of Africa by Horatio Bridge, ed. by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Call Number: DT471 .B78 1845b

[1st ed. reprinted]. Colonial History Series. London, Dawsons, 1968.
Also available online from HathiTrust
Africa Remembered; Narratives by West Africans from the Era of the Slave Trade by Philip D. Curtin, editor
Call Number: DT471 .C8

Publication Date: 1967

Colonial History Series. London, Dawsons, 1968.
The log of Unity, 1769-1771 (including a description of a slave riot on board ship)
Publication Date: 1769

Primary Sources Available through InterLibrary Loan

You can request these resources by filling out the Inter-Library Loan form found HERE

African Muslims in Antebellum America: A Sourcebook by Allan D. Austin
New York: Garland Pub., 1984
A Collection of Documents on the Slave Trade of Eastern Africa by R W Beachey
London: Collings, 1976
Children of God's Fire by Robert Edgar Conrad (ed.)
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983
Eyewitness Accounts of Slavery in the Danish West Indies: Also Graphic Tales of Other Slave Happenings on Ships and Plantations by Isidor Paiewonsky
New York : Fordham University Press, 1989
Barbot on Guinea: The Writings of Jean Barbot on West Africa 1678-1712 by jean Barbot; E.H. Hair, Adam Jones and Robin Law (eds.)
London: Hakluyt Society, 1992

Last Updated: Sep 24, 2025 3:37 PM
URL: https://mercer.libguides.com/AFR_HIS342_Harper
Print Page

Subjects: Africana Studies, History

Tags: 342, AFR 342, afr, africana studies, harper, HIS 342, his, history

This work by Mercer University Libraries is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License