In this Book

  • Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade: Setting the Record Straight
  • Book
  • Eli Faber
  • 1998
  • Published by: NYU Press
summary

Lays to rest the controversial myth of Jewish involvement in the slave trade

In the wake of the civil rights movement, a great divide has opened up between African American and Jewish communities. What was historically a harmonious and supportive relationship has suffered from a powerful and oft-repeated legend, that Jews controlled and masterminded the slave trade and owned slaves on a large scale, well in excess of their own proportion in the population.

In this groundbreaking book, likely to stand as the definitive word on the subject, Eli Faber cuts through this cloud of mystification to recapture an important chapter in both Jewish and African diasporic history.

Focusing on the British empire, Faber assesses the extent to which Jews participated in the institution of slavery through investment in slave trading companies, ownership of slave ships, commercial activity as merchants who sold slaves upon their arrival from Africa, and direct ownership of slaves. His unprecedented original research utilizing shipping and tax records, stock-transfer ledgers, censuses, slave registers, and synagogue records reveals, once and for all, the minimal nature of Jews' involvement in the subjugation of Africans in the Americas.

A crucial corrective, Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade lays to rest one of the most contested historical controversies of our time.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title page, Copyright, Dedication
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  1. Contents
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. ix-xi
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  1. Tables
  2. p. xiii
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  1. Abbreviations
  2. p. xv
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  1. A Note on Spelling and Dating
  2. p. xvii
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  1. Introduction
  2. pp. 1-10
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  1. 1. England’s Jewish Merchants and the Slave Trade
  2. pp. 11-43
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  1. 2. Jews and Slaves in Seventeenth-Century Barbados and Jamaica
  2. pp. 44-56
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  1. 3. Jews and Slavery in Jamaica, 1700–80
  2. pp. 57-90
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  1. 4. Jews and Slavery in Barbados and Nevis, 1700–80
  2. pp. 91-104
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  1. 5. Jews and Slaves on the Threshold of Abolition: Jamaica and Barbados, 1780–1820
  2. pp. 105-130
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  1. 6. Jewish Merchants and Slavery in the Mainland Colonies
  2. pp. 131-142
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  1. Conclusion
  2. pp. 143-146
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  1. Appendixes
  2. pp. 147-254
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  1. Notes
  2. pp. 255-329
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  1. Bibliography
  2. pp. 331-359
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 361-366
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  1. About the Author
  2. p. 367
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