Slaves for peanuts A story of conquest, liberation, and a crop that changed history
Book - 2022
"Author Jori Lewis reveals how demand for peanut oil in Europe ensured that slavery in Africa would persist well into the twentieth century, long after the European powers had officially banned it in the territories they controlled. Delving deep into West African and European archives, Lewis recreates a world on the coast of Africa that is breathtakingly real and unlike anything modern readers have experienced. Slaves for Peanuts is told through the eyes of a set of richly detailed characters--from an African-born French missionary harboring runaway slaves, to the leader of a Wolof state navigating the politics of French imperialism--who challenge our most basic assumptions of the motives and people who supported human bondage. At a ti...me when Americans are grappling with the enduring consequences of slavery, here is a new and revealing chapter in its global history" --
- Subjects
- Genres
- History
- Published
-
New York :
The New Press
2022.
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Physical Description
- xiii, 367 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- ISBN
- 9781620971567
- Preface
- Part I.
- 1. A Shelter for Runaway Slaves
- 2. A Crossroads
- 3. A Spark, a Solution, the Industrial Revolution
- 4. From Here to There and Back Again
- 5. A Peanut Ruse
- 6. The Legend of Ndakaaru
- 7. The Caravan
- 8. Those of the Sand
- 9. A Middleman
- Part II.
- 10. The People Who Came from the Sea
- 11. The African Business
- 12. Unholy Wars
- 13. A Word on Slavery
- 14. This Black Man from Gorée
- 15. Lat Joor Wants His Slaves Back
- Part III.
- 16. A Sickness with No Name
- 17. A Native Evangelist
- 18. Ceebu Jën
- 19. A Steamboat on Land
- 20. The Ebbs and Flows of My Courage
- Part IV.
- 21. Saxayaay
- 22. Springtime in Paris
- 23. Reports from the Rivers
- 24. A New Appeal
- 25. The Fifteen Captives of Ndiack Ndiaye
- 26. The Future of France
- 27. A Word on Freedom
- 28. The Civilizing Mission
- 29. A Stain That Must Be Washed
- Part V.
- 30. A Delicate Business
- 31. You Will Find Only Jackals and Hyenas
- 32. A Colleague and a Partner
- 33. Since the Invention of the Peanut
- 34. Special Seeds
- 35. Interregnums
- 36. The Propagation of French Culture?
- Part VI.
- 37. The Darnel
- 38. Bethesda
- 39. Poor Lat Joor
- 40. Go East!
- 41. The Dawn of a New Era
- 42. We Have Already Proven That the Negro Is Capable
- Part VII.
- 43. Lost and Found (Ephemera)
- 44. Why Have the Peanuts Degenerated?
- 45. Kerbala
- 46. On the Run
- 47. Your Civilization Has Not Dazzled Him
- 48. This Land of My Ancestors
- Part VIII.
- 49. A Peanut Fable
- 50. One of the Most Delicate Questions
- 51. A Child from the Dark Continent
- 52. Emaciated Lands
- 53. Drink My Cup to the Dregs
- 54. The Crushing Supremacy of the Peanut
- 55. What Remained
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- A Note on Sources
- Notes
- Index