Architectures of Slavery: Ruins and Reconstructions

The material legacies of slavery across the Atlantic world

Atlantic slavery has bequeathed architectural legacies from the plantation ruins that fill the valleys of Cuba to the servant's quarters of middle-class apartment housing in Brazil; from picturesque New England waterfronts to the modernist ranch-house suburbs of Savannah; and from the castle-studded coastline of Ghana to steel-framed commercial high-rises in South Carolina. The stories of these places are woven together by historical threads stretched across the past five hundred years, connecting them first through empire and forced migration, then by modern economic development and heritage tourism. Architectures of Slavery brings new clarity and critical insight to these visible injustices that still haunt so many societies in the Atlantic world, empowering its people to build more democratic and just places in the future.