Peer Review

Britain and Slavery: The Slave Trade

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Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: The Slave Trade is a gateway site on slavery in British history from 1750-1870.
Links are presented under a variety of categories and include: slave accounts,
slave system, slave life, slave events, slave issues, men and women's
anti-slavery societies, anti-slavery groups, legislation, and United States
campaigns against slavery.
Type of Material:: An encyclopdia listing which offers a gateway site to other web sites on the
topic of slavery.
Recommended Uses:: The site's material should be used as supplemental to an existing course.
Technical Requirements:: None.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: No learning goals are identified. The site's goal is to offer additional
information about the Atlantic slave trade, slavery in the Americas, and the
abolitionist movement by using primary source material.
Target Student Population:: Primarily high school students and possibly a freshman United States history
survey course.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Students must have sufficient background in the history of the slave trade and
its implications for the Americas and Africa. This site can augment in-class
work but cannot replace it.

Rating:
Strengths:: The site places the greater emphasis on slave life in the Americas and the
abolitionist movement. Both topics are presented through narratives and
thematic topics. The narratives are from oral traditions and primary sources
from slaves, reformers, and abolitionists. The topics include a short
description of important information followed by excerpts from narratives used
as supporting evidence.
Concerns:: The site pays little attention to the "middle passage" or the mechanisms of the
slave trade. Much of the topical information is presented at a level useful
primarily for high school students. Some of the narratives are too short and
sometimes seem randomly picked. Some important narratives are left out. The site
failed to link the topic to the implications of th slave trade for the modern
period or to issues and trends for the period covered.

Rating:
Strengths:: A collection of narratives and bibliographies placed into categories for topical
research. The site allows faculty great flexibility in determining how to use
the material offered.
Concerns:: There is no guidance in how to use the site and the material available.

Rating:
Strengths:: The site is easy to navigate. The site seems generally well maintained.
Concerns:: A couple of links appear to be dead generating error messages. There were
spelling problems, e.g. Frederick Douglass and grammar errors in the use of the
possessive.

Other Issues and Comments:: The site offers faculty the opportunity to introduce students to primary
sources. The thematic topics need a much more rigorous academic approach and
more images need to be included. The site needs to deal with the issue of
"implications" of the slave trade. The site needs to include much new data
currently available from the logs of slaving vessels. A better title needs to
be considered given the site's content.
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