While Slaves, African Masters
- Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications, July 2003
This article introduces narratives by American captives during and after the Barbary Wars (1801-1805, 1815). SEt against a background of American imperial pursuits, the accounts reveral the hypocrisy and double-standards common among early Americans (who accepted black slavery in America but reacted strongly against the idea of white slaves in the custody of the North African Muslims). The accounts were largely works of fiction, but were accepted as fact. Arabs are present as bizarre, gruesome, and primite. The stories were sold by the thousands, so members of almost every household were exposed to these negative portrayals
Barbary Captivity North Afrian History Slavery Race Stereotypes Narratives Eighteenthand Nineteenth-Century America