Between 1800 and 1920, the abolition of the slave trade disguised another type of slavery. The victims were classified as “Liberated Africans,” although they were not actually freed. This website is dedicated to the memory of over 700,000 enslaved people involuntarily indentured by governments claiming to bring an end to the slave trade from Africa.

Learn More
Media & Events

Data Archiving

25 January 2024

Harvard Dataverse receives copies of over 20,000 interpreted "Liberated African" names leaving the Western Bight region. This sample reflects over two thirds of over 33,700 registered people captured from slave ships leaving this African region or seeking asylum from within it. Results show the names were predominately Yorùbá, although many other neighboring ethnolinguistic groups are represented too. More to come...

Data Archiving

22 December 2023

Harvard Dataverse receives copies of over 113,500 registered "Liberated Africans" is being incorporated into the website. This expanded list builds on previous transcriptions of "Liberated Africans" in Freetown, Sierra Leone after 1808. The expanded list includes other registers made in Cuba, Brazil, the British Caribbean, East Africa, Southern Europe, and the Middle East.

Data Archiving

10 July 2023

Harvard Dataverse receives copies of three key datasets: "Global Survey of "Liberated African" Cases during the Suppression of the Slave Trade from Africa, 1800-1920;" "Maritime Blockade of the Slave Trade, 1800-1900;" and "Catalogue of Anti-Slave Trade Legislation in Global Perspective."

Version 3

1 June 2023

Walk With Web Inc. designed the current version online. Upgrades include a legislation archive, departure regions, and maritime slave trade blockades. Global totals expand to over 5,500 cases involving over 700,000 people between 1800 and 1920. Mapping supported by the University of Colorado Boulder and a Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellowship (NN-2006-08535).

 

More Media & Events...

Liberated Africans logo in yellow