THE CHOICES PROGRAM BROWN UNIVERSITY
VIDEO COLLECTION

Racial Slavery in the Americas: Resistance, Freedom, and Legacies

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Introduction

Racial Slavery in the Americas: Resistance, Freedom, and Legacies
Why is it important for students to learn about slavery?
Why is it important for high school students to learn about slavery in the United States?
Why is it essential to learn about the history of slavery in the United States?
What is structural racism?
What is the relationship between racial slavery and anti-Black racism?
How do perceptions of race differ in Brazil and the United States?
What are some common misconceptions about racial slavery?
Why should we use the term “enslaved people” instead of “slaves”?
How is the history of slavery remembered today?

Part I - Colonization and the Creation of Racial Slavery

What is colonialism?
What was the relationship between Native people and European colonists?
What is the history of Indigenous slavery in Mexico?
What was life like for Native people in the North American colonies?
Who were the enslaved people in the British North American colonies?
How did Europeans use the idea of race to justify colonialism?
What is racial slavery and how is it different from other forms of slavery?
Why did Europeans create the system of racial slavery in the Americas?
How did European colonialism impact racial slavery in the Americas?
What were the differences between slave systems across the Americas?

Part II - The Slave Trade

What was the transatlantic trade of enslaved people?
How did the transatlantic slave trade shape the economy of the modern world?
How did the “business of slavery” link economies in the Atlantic World?
How did the transatlantic slave trade shape Brazilian history?
How did slavery contribute to the economy of the United States and the world?
What is the connection between slavery and capitalism?
What is racial capitalism?

Part III - Life in the Americas

How did enslaved people resist slavery?
How did enslaved people respond to and resist slavery?
How did enslaved people challenge the institution of slavery?
How did enslaved people resist slavery?
What was daily life like for enslaved people?
What were the daily hardships faced by enslaved people in the Mississippi Valley?
Why did enslavers withhold provisions from enslaved people?
How did enslaved people build communities?
How did gender shape the experiences of slavery?

Part IV - The Abolition of Slavery and Its Legacies

What is the importance of the abolition movement?
Why is it important to focus on Black leadership in the abolition movement?
How were Black women essential to the abolition movement?
What is self-emancipation?
Who were the maroons?
What were quilombos?
What kind of freedom did enslaved people seek?
How did the Haitian Revolution evolve over time?
What was the significance of Vodou to the Haitian Revolution?
What was the U.S. response to the Haitian Revolution?
How did the Haitian Revolution change the world?
How did the Haitian Revolution shape the question of freedom in the modern world?
How did the Haitian Revolution inspire Black abolitionists in the United States?
Why did Haiti agree to pay reparations to France after the Haitian Revolution?
How are the legacies of French colonialism important to understanding Haiti today?
How did slavery influence Cuban society?
How did the long presence of slavery in Cuba affect race relations on the island?
How did the Cuban Revolution address the issue of race?
How are Cubans talking about race today?
How did the abolition of slavery affect Brazil?
What are the legacies of slavery in Brazil?
How does racism operate differently in Brazil and the United States?
Why did the idea of “whitening” develop in Brazil?
How did Afro-Brazilians experience the military dictatorship in Brazil?
What is the Black consciousness movement in Brazil?
How are women participating in Brazilian politics today?
Why are land rights an issue for descendants of quilombos?
Why is there police violence against Black Brazilians today?
What were the limitations of the Thirteenth Amendment?
What was life like for Black people in the South under Jim Crow?
In what ways was Black life under Jim Crow similar to life under slavery?
How did Black Southerners resist Jim Crow?
What was “white flight” in post-WWII America?
What were the consequences of “white flight” in post-WWII America?
What was the civil rights movement?
What were the major accomplishments of the civil rights movement and what challenges remain?
What does the struggle for Black freedom look like today?
How has racism impacted how Americans think about identity?
What are the legacies of racial slavery?
What are reparations? Why are reparations for slavery controversial?
What is justice? What does justice look like for those affected by slavery?

Lesson: Data Analysis: Slavery, Empire, and Capitalism

How did European colonialism impact racial slavery in the Americas?
What is the connection between slavery and capitalism?

Lesson: The Human Geography of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

What was the transatlantic trade of enslaved people?
How did enslaved people resist slavery?

Lesson: Primary Source Analysis: Enslaved People's Perspectives on Life and Labor in the Americas

What do historians mean when they talk about historical silences?
What kinds of sources can be used to show how enslaved people experienced their lives?
How did enslaved people respond to and resist slavery?
How did enslaved people build communities?

Lesson: Art Analysis: Portrayals of Plantations and Enslavement

What can art reveal about history or current events?
How do you go about analyzing a work of art?
What were the daily hardships faced by enslaved people in the Mississippi Valley?
Why did enslavers withhold provisions from enslaved people?

Lesson: Reporting the Haitian Revolution

How did the Haitian Revolution change the world?
How did the Haitian Revolution inspire Black abolitionists in the United States?

Lesson: Reparative Justice: Writing an Appeal for Action

What are reparations? Why are reparations for slavery controversial?
What is justice? What does justice look like for those affected by slavery?

Lesson: Public Monuments to Slavery

What are the purposes of historical memorials?
What are the challenges of commemorating the history of slavery?
What are the sources of controversy surrounding memorials to slavery?
How to analyze public memorials
Analyzing a memorial: Fern Cunningham’s “Step on Board” (1999)
Analyzing a memorial: Alison Saar’s “Swing Low” (2008)
Analyzing a memorial: Mario Chiodo’s “Unwavering Courage in the Pursuit of Freedom” (2012)
How is the history of slavery remembered today?

Lesson: Historical Memory: Commemorating Racial Slavery

How is the history of slavery remembered today?
What is historical memory?
How do governments and citizens shape historical memory?
What are the consequences of forgetting historical violence?
What is the difference between history and memory?
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