Episode 173: Marisa Fuentes, Colonial Port Cities and Slavery

by Liz CovartFebruary 13, 2018

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The histories of early North America and the Caribbean are intimately intertwined. The same European empires we encounter in our study of early America also appear in the Caribbean and the colonies in these respective empires often traded goods, people, and ideas between each other.

Marisa Fuentes, an associate professor of history and women and gender studies at Rutgers University and author of Dispossessed Lives: Enslaved Women, Violence, and the Archive, joins us to explore some of the connections mainland North America and the British Caribbean shared in their practices of slavery in urban towns.

About the Show

Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.

It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.

Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.

Ben Franklin’s World is a production of the Omohundro Institute.

Episode Summary

Marisa Fuentes, an associate professor of history and women and gender studies at Rutgers University and author of Dispossessed Lives: Enslaved Women, Violence, and the Archive, joins us to explore some of the connections mainland North America and the British Caribbean shared in their practices of slavery in urban towns.

During our conversation, Marisa reveals details about Bridgetown, Barbados during the 18th century; Differences between urban slavery and plantation slavery; And, information about the historical records historians use to recover and reconstruct the lives of people from the past.

What You’ll Discover

Bridgetown, Barbados in the early 18th century
Urban slavery vs. Plantation slavery in the Caribbean
How urban slavery in the Caribbean compared with urban slavery in North America
Experiences of enslaved women in 18th-century Bridgetown, Barbados
Historical records about enslaved people
How to interpret records that provide only snippets of information about people
The story of Jane, an enslaved woman who ran away
Historians’ use of speculation
The life of Rachel Pringle Polgreen
Absence of archival records associated with enslaved women and free women of color
History as a production as well as an account of the past
How exploring slavery in 18th-century Barbados helps us better understand slavery in 18th-century North America

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Time Warp Question

In your opinion, what might have happened if literacy rates had been higher among the enslaved in the Caribbean? How would this change the nature of the historical sources we have about the enslaved and their lives? Would the archives we create to conserve and preserve historical records be different if enslaved people had created these records?