HIS300 American Beginnings Research Guide

Since the slaves on this sample voyage were taken from Ardra near the Bight of Benin (later the Republic of Dahomey and then the Republic of Benin), we will search for information sources containing the history of this area.

Click on the Reference link to see a select list of resources in which you can search

Sample searches:

Credo Reference

• Place a search for: 
  • ardra and benin
• Sample information source:
  • Benin, country, Africa. (2013). In The Columbia encyclopedia. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
    (Early History section)
  • Note additional resources in the bibliography at the end of the article
    • Example:
      Manning, Patrick. (1982). Slavery, colonialism, and economic growth in Dahomey, 1640-1960. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Gale Virtual Reference Library

• Place a search for: 
  • benin
• Sample information source:
  • Benin. (2008). In J. Middleton & J. C. Miller (Eds.), New encyclopedia of Africa (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 228-237). Detroit, MI: Charles Scribner's Sons.
    (History and Politics section)

A Companion to African American History (Blackwell Companions to American History)

• View the table of contents and look for appropriate entries
• Sample entry:
  • Konneh, A. (2005). Life and work in West Africa. In A. Hornsby (Ed.), A companion to African American history. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Click on the Books & eBooks link to see possible resources in which to search

Sample searches:

CLICsearch (Bethel Libraries Searching Interface)

• Place searches for: 
  • "west africa" AND history AND slave*
  • benin AND history
• Look for appropriate official Subjects that can be used for additional searches:
  For example:
  • Africa, West--History
  • Slave trade--Africa, West--History
  • Slave trade--America--History
  • Slavery--Africa--History
  • Benin (Nigeria)--History
• Sample information sources:
  • Bailey, A. C. (2005). African voices of the Atlantic slave trade: Beyond the silence and the shame. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
  • Buah, F. K., & Ade Ajayi, J. F. (1966). A history of West Africa to the nineteenth century. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
  • Walvin, J. (2006). Atlas of slavery. New York, NY: Pearson Longman.

WorldCat  (Indexes titles held at libraries all over the world)

• Place searches for:
  • "west africa" AND "slave trade"
  • benin AND history
• Look for appropriate official Subjects that can be used for additional searches:
  For example:
  • Africa, West--History
  • Slave trade--Africa, West--History
  • Slave trade--America--History
  • Slavery--Africa--History
  • Benin (Nigeria)--History
• Sample information sources:
  • Law, R. (1991). The slave coast of West Africa, 1550-1750: The impact of the Atlantic slave trade on an African society. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  • Lovejoy, P. E. (1983). Transformations in slavery: A history of slavery in Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Manning, P. (1982). Slavery, colonialism, and economic growth in Dahomey, 1640-1960. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Click on the Articles link to see a select list of resources in which you can search

Sample searches:

JSTOR

• Click on "Advanced Search"
• Place a search for: 
  • "west* africa*" AND "slave trade"
  • benin AND history
• Narrow your search by: 
  • Item Type: Articles
  • Language: English
  • Discipline: African Studies; History
• Sample information sources:
  • Law, R., & Mann, K. (1999). West Africa in the Atlantic community: The case of the Slave Coast. William and Mary Quarterly (Third Series), 56(2), 307-334.
  • Lovejoy, P. E., & Richardson, D. (2001). The business of slaving: Pawnship in Western Africa, c. 1600-1810. Journal of African History, 42, 67-89.

Humanities Source

• Place a search for:
  • west* AND africa* AND history AND "slave trade"
  • benin AND history
• Limit your results by: 
  • Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals
• Look for appropriate official Subjects that can be used for additional searches:
  For example:
  • Africa, West--History
  • Slave trade--Africa, West--History
  • Slavery--Africa--History
• Sample information sources:
  • Monroe, J. C. (2007). Continuity, revolution or evolution on the Slave Coast of West Africa? Royal architecture and political order in precolonial Dahomey. Journal of African History, 48, 349-373.
  • Kelly, K. G. (1997). The archaeology of African-European interaction: Investigating the social roles of trade, traders, and the use of space in the seventeenth-and eighteenth-century Heuda kingdom, Republic of Benin. World Archaeology, 28, 351-369.

Project MUSE

• Click on "Advanced Search"
• Limit your search to:
  • Content Type: Articles
  • Research Area: History > African
• Place a search for: 
  • benin
• Sample information source:
  • Law, R. (2005). Ethnicities of enslaved Africans in the Diaspora: On the meanings of "Mina" (Again). History of Africa, 32, 247-267.

Click on the Primary Sources links to see a select list of resources in which you can start searching

Sample searches:

CLICsearch (Bethel Libraries Searching Interface)

• Place a search for: 
  • west* AND africa AND history AND sources
  • "slave trade" AND sources
• Look for appropriate official Subjects that can be used for additional searches:
  For example:
  • Slave trade--Africa, West--Sources
  • Africa, West--History--Sources
• Sample information sources:
  • Collins, R. O. (1990). Western African history. New York, NY: M. Wiener Pub.
  • Curtin, P. D. (Ed.). (1967). Africa remembered; Narratives by West Africans from the era of the slave trade. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.

Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record

• Click on "Explore the Collection"
  • Click on "Maps: Africa, New World, Slave Trade"
    • Sample information sources:
      • "West and West Central Africa, late 17th cent."
      • "Major Slaving Regions of West Africa"
      • "West Africa, 1450-1865"
  • Click on "Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture"
    • Sample information sources:
      • "King of Benin with Soldiers, late 17th cent."
      • "King of Benin (Oba) in Procession, late 17th cent."

Digital Public Library of America

• Place search for: 
  • "slave trade" AND benin
• Sample information source:
  • Norris, R. (1789). Memoirs of the reign of Bossa Ahadee, King of Dahomy, an inland country of Guiney. London, UK: W. Lowndes.

Click on the Reference link and locate the Websites box

Sample searches:

In Motion: the African-American Migration Experience

• Click on the "The Transatlantic Slave Trade" link
• Under "Read About", click on:
  • The Development of the Trade
  • Capture and Enslavement
  • Traders and Trade
  • Impact of the Slave Trade on Africa