Abolition in Sierra Leone

Richard Peter Anderson is Lecturer in Colonial and Postcolonial History at the University of Exeter. He has published in journals including Slavery & Abolition, African Economic History, and History in Africa. He is co-editor of Liberated Africans and the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1807–1896 (forthcoming) with Henry Lovejoy.

• Introduction. Sierra Leone: African colony, African diaspora; 1. Liberated African origins and the nineteenth century slave trade; 2. Their own middle passage: voyages to Sierra Leone; 3. 'Particulars of disposal': life and labor after 'liberation'; 4. Liberated African nations: ethnogenesis in an African diaspora; 5. Kings and companies: ethnicity and community leadership; 6. Religion, return, and the making of the Aku; 7. The Cobolo War: Islam, identity, and resistance; Conclusion. Retention or renaissance? Krio descendants and ethnic identity; Appendices. A. 'Nations' of children in CMS school rosters by probable coastline of embarkation, 1816–1824; B. 1848 Sierra Leone census; C. Koelle's Aku informants; D. Liberated African memorials in Freetown churches; Select bibliography; Index.

'In this captivating volume, Richard Peter Anderson, tells a story of despair and hope. Centering the narrative around the experiences of Liberated Africans in the British colony of Sierra Leone, Anderson masterfully brings his subjects of study back from oblivion, in what it is by all means a thoroughly researched and wonderfully written text.' Manuel Barcia, University of Leeds