Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the existence of a 'slave community' is a subject that provokes a great deal of controversy and debate, among historians of American slavery and how the essence of the term 'slave community' implies a separate collective culture and way of life, encapsulated in a microcosm away from the world of the whites.

From the Paper:

"The most provocative discussion on the subject of a 'slave community' was its rejection by Stanley Elkins. Firstly, Elkins argues that there was no common shared culture or community brought with the slaves from Africa. Elkins sweeps away generalisations made about African culture that could have made a 'substantial difference in character and social habits' by highlighting the 'cultural diversity among the African tribes.' A point also carried by Kolchin who comments 'during the antebellum period southern slaves lacked the large-scale infusion from Africa that might have served to foster black cultural forms.' The likelihood of a shared identity diminishes even further when you consider the diversity of languages across the West Coast of Africa."

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