Reparations for Slavery and the Slave Trade

This is a book I've been waiting for - a timely and overdue account of the centuries-long cry for reparations, written by a gifted historian of transatlantic slavery. * Marcus Rediker, University of Pittsburgh, USA * ‘Araujo is the first scholar to examine reparations for slavery and the Atlantic slave trade comparatively and transnationally, drawing on a broad range of texts in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish … An important book for all collections. Summing Up: Essential. All libraries.’ * CHOICE * ‘The trans-Atlantic debate about reparations for slavery has long needed a serious historical explanation. Now, in Ana Lucia Araujo’s book, we have the answer. This original, sweeping study, grounded in meticulous research, explains how and why reparations have become so pressing a modern-day issue. It is essential reading for everyone concerned – whatever their viewpoint.’ * James Walvin, Professor of History Emeritus, University of York, UK * ‘Ana Lucia Araujo’s book on slavery reparations movements reaches across time and space. She considers enslavement, emancipation, and the continued refusal of every single slave-owning society in the Atlantic world—the USA, Britain, France, Brazil, Portugal, and Spain, especially—to address the centuries of theft that made them wealthy and built the modern global political economy. Professor Araujo’s erudition is unbounded, and her clear, readable prose will make this book an important and useful addition to the toolkits of academics, students, and activists.’ * Edward E. Baptist, Professor of History, Cornell University, USA * ‘Araujo’s history offers a compelling review of the rationales made for reparations payments, the historical actors who made such claims, and historical events that motivated their political demands … Reparations for Slavery and The Slave Trade is an insightful and expansive history of enslavement that reveals the interconnected nature of the Atlantic world from the origins of enslavement to the present day.’ * Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective * ‘This book is absolutely indispensable and makes an important contribution to what Araujo concludes is an ‘unfinished struggle.’ * The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History * ‘What is so clear in this important and timely book is that many people keep making moral claims even as they are repeatedly, rudely, and firmly rejected by those in power … While the focus of the book is on reparation claims, Araujo puts those claims in the context of the broader movement for economic and social empowerment of people of African descent. It is this comprehensive and broad story that makes Reparations the best book yet on reparations for slavery … As others take up the difficult moral questions it raises, such as who should pay and why, this book will be at the center of discussions of ways in which the past burdens the present.’ * New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids * ‘In this insightful and compelling study, Ana Lucia Araujo shows the importance of a transnational and comparative approach to examining the ways in which slave societies throughout the Americas presented the case for reparations.’ * The North Carolina Historical Review * ‘Araujo has cemented herself as a senior historian thoroughly in command of her craft … In addition to the U.S., nearly every country in Latin America and the Caribbean makes an appearance. While focused on reparations, the book also serves as a global primer on slavery and emancipation … Overall, Araujo’s book offers a valuable contribution to scholars of the African Diaspora.’ * Black Perspectives * ‘A wide-ranging overview of the historical and contemporary struggle for reparations ... A book that will enrich current debates surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, controversial monuments and memorials to slave holders and Con-federate heroes, and the ongoing social inequalities along racial lines ... Readers of many varieties will bene?t from Reparations for Slavery and the Slave Trade as a classroom text, research tool, and narrative guide to the evolution of one of the most contentious issues of our times. It will broaden the scope of intellectual discussions because of its international orientation, and it will deepen readers’ appreciation for the long history of the struggle.’ * The American Historical Review *