Africans in America

The Africans in America web site is a companion to Africans in America, a six-hour public television series. The Web site chronicles the history of racial slavery in the United States — from the start of the Atlantic slave trade in the 16th century to the end of the American Civil War in 1865 — and explores the central paradox that is at the heart of the American story: a democracy that declared all men equal but enslaved and oppressed one people to provide independence and prosperity to another. Africans in America examines the economic and intellectual foundations of slavery in America and the global economy that prospered from it. And it reveals how the presence of African people and their struggle for freedom transformed America.

The site is structured into four parts, corresponding to the periods covered by the episodes of the companion television series:

• The Terrible Transformation (1450-1750) tells of the largest forced migration in recorded history and how this mass movement of people was instrumental in the creation of the British North American colonies.
• Revolution (1750-1805) is the story of the American Revolution. While the American colonies challenge Britain for independence, American slavery is challenged from within, as men and women fight to define what the country will be.
• Brotherly Love (1791-1831) examines the first forty years of the new nation, primarily through the fortunes of Philadelphia’s unique free black community.
• Judgment Day (1831-1865) tells of the years that lead up to the Civil War, as America is challenged as never before to end slavery.