Final Project Proposal: Internal Salve Trade

By Jesse Aragona

Data Critique- My project begins with a tweak in my initial Data Critique, analyzing how best to interpret and use the data provided for my research needs. Revisiting the issues with the data set will provide a clear and concise lens through which I can view the rest of the project.

Data Cleaning- The main focus as far as cleaning is two fold for this project, narrowing the scope of the data set excluding information irrelevant to the United States and using the original formatting to decipher categories lost in translation to Google sheets is absolutely necessary for the completion of this project.

Secondary Bibliography-

1)The Chattel Principle: Internal Slave Trades in the Americas by Walter Johnson

2)Quantitative Estimates of the United States Interregional Slave Trade, 1820-1860

3)Hidden in Plain Sight: Centering the Domestic Slave Trade in American Public History

4)Slave Trading in a New World: The Strategies of North American Slave Traders in the Age of Abolition

How closely can we trace the route from Africa to arrival at U.S. ports, and with how much accuracy can we find the final destinations of the enslaved? Did certain ships stick to certain routes, and if so how close can we come to obtaining national origins for the enslaved and their ancestors. How accurately can we map those journeys?

Goals- A map of voyages, hopefully expanding out from the initial port to separate destinations if possible. A cleaned representation of the data used, sheets provided representing the journeys and individuals shown on the map. Ideally the map will allow the reader to trace routes of individual voyages from the nation of origin to the point of departure, and further if more data can be adapted and used for that purpose. The project will also provide a significant explanation of the Internal United States Slave trade, including policies and methods.

Timeline- March 30th, Isolation of Data to be used as well as completed cleaning of said Data. April 3rd, rough draft of map as well as final data set exclusions and inclusions. April 9th, Rough Map of Voyages completed

One Comment

Maeve Kane

March 28, 2019 at 12:52 pm

First, those are not acceptable citations. Even when linking, you have to include the full Chicago style citations. You’ve also only linked to your search results, not the specific work, so you’re not linking as required for a citation.

For your maps, refer back to the Transatlantic Slave Trade database website your data was pulled from, since they already have a number of maps and you’ll need to write up how yours differ from work that’s already been done. Kristian is working on the same data, so you two should touch base to see if you can help each other out on cleaning, brainstorming, etc.

You should not plan on this having a traditional research paper style component with the policy/methods of the internal slave trade section, as this is far beyond the scope of the class and you’re going to have your hands full with your two datasets. You should plan to set a goal for the first part of the project and then move on to the second part only if you’re moving at a good pace through the first.

You also need to finish your milestones outline, since you’ve only got it through April 9.

Maeve Kane

March 28, 2019 at 12:52 pm

First, those are not acceptable citations. Even when linking, you have to include the full Chicago style citations. You’ve also only linked to your search results, not the specific work, so you’re not linking as required for a citation.

For your maps, refer back to the Transatlantic Slave Trade database website your data was pulled from, since they already have a number of maps and you’ll need to write up how yours differ from work that’s already been done. Kristian is working on the same data, so you two should touch base to see if you can help each other out on cleaning, brainstorming, etc.

You should not plan on this having a traditional research paper style component with the policy/methods of the internal slave trade section, as this is far beyond the scope of the class and you’re going to have your hands full with your two datasets. You should plan to set a goal for the first part of the project and then move on to the second part only if you’re moving at a good pace through the first.

You also need to finish your milestones outline, since you’ve only got it through April 9.