White Slaves, African Masters – An Anthology of American Barbary Captivity Narratives

Some of the most popular stories in 19th-century America were sensational tales of whites captured and enslaved in North Africa. This book gathers a selection of these Barbary captivity narratives, which significantly influenced early American attitudes toward race, slavery, and nationalism.

Historical Context

Though Barbary privateers began seizing North American colonists as early as 1625, Barbary captivity narratives did not flourish until after the American Revolution. During this period, these stories:

• Forced the US government to pay humiliating tributes to African rulers.
• Stimulated the drive to create the US Navy.
• Brought on America's first post-revolutionary war.

These tales were also used both to justify and vilify slavery, reflecting the complex and often contradictory attitudes of the time.

Captivating Accounts

The accounts collected in this anthology range widely in scope and intrigue, including:

• The 1798 tale of John Foss, who was ransomed by Thomas Jefferson's administration for a tribute totaling a sixth of the annual federal budget.
• The story of Ion Perdicaris, whose (probably staged) abduction in Tangier in 1904 led Theodore Roosevelt to send warships to Morocco and inspired the 1975 film "The Wind and the Lion".
• The unusual story of Robert Adams, a light-skinned African American who was:
  • Abducted by Arabs and used to hunt negro slaves.
  • Captured by black villagers who presumed he was white.
  • Sold back to Arabs, from whom he was ransomed by a British diplomat.