Dartmouth Events

Slavery and marriage were two sites of contestation around which early colonial Gold Coast society rearranged itself under British rule. In fact, the two were frequently entangled in olicy and practice. Many women (and some men) who appeared before the colonial courts as litigants in slave-trading and enslavement cases used the oppoertunity to make claims to be wives and husbands, to modify their status within their marriages, to escape their spouses, or to choose new partners. Studying these entanglements can give us insights into the nature of colonialism and emancipationas well as the opportunities and limits of post-emancipation life and livelihood.