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SlaveVoyages Database Finds New Home at Harvard University

In a significant development for the study of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the SlaveVoyages project is relocating to Harvard University. Henry Louis Gates Jr., the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, announced this transition during a recent conference that highlighted the project’s importance as an open-access historical resource.

SlaveVoyages is a culmination of nearly 40 years of dedicated scholarship involving researchers from various institutions who have worked tirelessly to digitize historical records from archives around the globe. The dataset currently maintained at Rice University provides comprehensive information on more than 30,000 vessels that participated in the trans-Atlantic slave trade from the 16th to the 19th century. Additionally, it documents the stories of nearly 221,000 individuals, including ship captains and the people who were enslaved.

Launched in 2008 at Emory University, the SlaveVoyages website features innovative visualizations that bring its data to life, including a time-lapse animation that illustrates the individual voyages on a detailed map. Moreover, two 18th-century French slaving vessels bound for modern-day Haiti have been rendered in 3D video format based on historical drawings.

The Hutchins Center has played a pivotal role in supporting SlaveVoyages, along with contributions from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Emory University. As the project moves to Harvard, the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative (H&LS) is stepping in to provide crucial support.

“Education is at the core of our initiative’s mission,” stated Sara Bleich, vice provost for special projects and head of H&LS. “The databases of SlaveVoyages feed into the curiosity of Harvard students, prompting an ongoing examination of the university’s historical connections to slavery. By co-funding this project with the Hutchins Center, we can enhance knowledge dissemination and empower scholars and students worldwide, underscoring our commitment to truth.”

The conference, which took place from April 3 to April 5, gathered researchers involved with SlaveVoyages and those inspired by its contributions to historical scholarship. Gates emphasized the significance of the event, mentioning how it brought together scholars from different generations who have dedicated their efforts to revealing the complexities of the slave trade, a devastating chapter in human history that impacted millions.

Over the course of three days, the conference featured an array of topics addressing the global ramifications of the slave trade. The opening panel explored the genetic influences stemming from this historical context, with presentations from David Reich of Harvard Medical School, Kasia Bryc of the Broad Institute, alongside experts from Johns Hopkins University and the National Center of Medical Genetics of Cuba.

Daniel B. Domingues da Silva, an associate professor of history at Rice University and the current host of SlaveVoyages, presented his research on Brazil’s 19th-century slave trade. Other discussions included the potential use of artificial intelligence to enhance the database, presented by Jorge Felipe-Gonzalez from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and an exploration of shipboard uprisings in Indian Ocean voyages led by Jane Hooper from George Mason University. A final panel examined the trade in the South West Pacific, where Francis Bobongie-Harris from Queensland University of Technology highlighted the human cost involved.

During the conference, Gates honored David Eltis, a founding figure of the SlaveVoyages project and an emeritus professor of history, by presenting him with the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal. This prestigious accolade was awarded in recognition of Eltis’s impactful vision that gave rise to this transformative resource. Gates remarked that this recognition was particularly appropriate, as Du Bois, the first African American to earn a Ph.D. at Harvard, wrote his 1895 dissertation on attempts to suppress the trade of enslaved Africans within the United States.

Source
phys.org