Rebellious Passage: The "Creole" Revolt and America's Coastal Slave Trade

Everyday black Bahamians, many working on small watercraft, facilitated the enslaved people's flight from the ship and forced the hand of the British state. [...]while white officials at the time put themselves at the center of the Creole's story of slavery and freedom, Kerr-Ritchie explains that their actions were always in response to people of color on the ground, on the waves, and on the ship itself. [...]scholars of slavery and capitalism might object to Kerr-Ritchie's treatment of them, especially considering he concurs in their argument about the central role of slavery in America's economic expansion. Michael A. Schoeppner michael a. schoeppner is an assistant professor of history at the University of Maine-Farmington and the author of Moral Contagion: Black Atlantic Sailors, Citizenship, and Diplomacy in Antebellum America (Cambridge University Press, 2019).