Captive Passage
has been made
possible in part by:

Recognition of
additional sponsors
for this exhibition
can be found by
clicking on
ExhibitionSponsors.

This Web site
was written by:

Mark Arduini
Bill Cogar
Kim Gove
Anna Holloway
Julia Hotton
Anne Marie Millar
Tracey Neikirk
David Rieger
Rhonda Todd
Barbara Wright
Randy Wyatt

Special thanks to
Joan Allison
for her assistance
in compiling
the Bibliography.

Legacy: Building New Nations

From the transatlantic slave trade have grown vital and important legacies to the culture of the twenty-first century Americas. For more than 400 years, Africans and their descendants contributed the labor that was key to the development of the Americas. The emergence of the New World in the international economy--one of the most important events in modern history--was based on the coercion of slavery. Slaves labored on farms and plantations, creating wealth and power for their owners. They worked as skilled craftsmen, ironworkers, carpenters, dressmakers, cooks, and housekeepers. American economies and institutions thrived on their toil and ingenuity.

The forced migration of millions of nameless Africans left a permanent imprint on both the Old World and the New. When the time came to fight for freedom, these captives did so by the hundreds of thousands. The lessons learned from a people sustained by the hope of freedom remain a powerful legacy even today.