Orte des Erinnerns und Vergessens:: Denkmäler, Museen und historische Schauplätze von Sklaverei und Sklavenhandel

This paper refers to the „lieux de mémoire”, places of memory, of slave trade and slavery in some former colonial states which possessed plantations colonies in the Caribbean, England, France and Spain, and some former slavery societies, the U.S.A., the French and British West Indies, Cuba, and Brazil. It examines the development of the historiography on the topic, the development of memory practices from the honouring of white abolitionists to museums and monuments representing the slave´ s experience and resistance of slaves and maroons. Historical places where slavery took place (plantations, slave trade ports) or where it should be remembered in the context of colonial history (i. g. the Museo de América in Madrid), but where the memory is silenced because of political or commercial reasons, are also treated. The text tries to find out which social and political conditions lead to which forms of remembering or forgetting the history of slavery

Las sevicias cometidas por la familia Desgrottes. Historias de maltrato de esclavos y su resistencia en Martinica

Esta contribución cuenta una micro-historia partiendo de un caso de sevicia contra esclavos revelado por un periódico abolicionista e investigado por el Estado colonial en los últimos años de la esclavitud en Martinica. Mira el comportamiento general de la familia propietaria de esclavos y la resistencia de las esclavas maltratadas y otros esclavos alrededor de ellas. El papel reconstruye las familias de los libertos en el momento de emancipación y los conflictos sociales en las plantaciones de la familia Desgrottes después de la abolición. Finalmente, investiga la herencia de los conflictos raciales-sociales de la esclavitud y post-esclavitud hasta hoy.This contribution counts a micro-history starting at a case of bad treatment of slaves revealed by an abolitionist newspaper and investigated by the colonial state in the final years of slavery in Martinique. It looks on the general behavior of the slave owner’s family and the resistance of mistreated slave women and their families and other slaves around. The paper reconstructs the family of the freedmen in the moment of emancipation and the social conflicts on the plantations of the family Desgrottes after abolition. Finally, it investigates the heritage of the racial-social conflicts of slavery and post-slavery until today

Erinnerungskulturen und Geschichtspolitik im Hinblick auf transatlantischen Sklavenhandel und Sklaverei

This introduction explains the principal object of this volume of Comparativ to show when, where, how and by which media transatlantic slave trade and slavery have been remembered in former colonial states, plantation societies and in Germany until 2011, the International Year for People of African Descent, which focuses on the African diasporas as consequence of the slave trades. This article describes the historiography about this topic and social and political context of actual discussions on the national and international level which forms of commemoration are adequate to remember the victimization and the resistance of enslaved people, and also marks the silences and omissions on transatlantic slavery that persist until today