Refugees in the Early Modern Atlantic World
In this module, students ask what caused the forced migration of refugees in Europe, West Africa, and the Americas in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and, more broadly, who gets to define a refugee and why. Through two week of class meetings, students will trace the factors that shaped refugees’ movements and activities in these three regions. In doing so, they will be able to see that some of the factors shaping these forced migrations, even in far-flung parts of the world, were the same processes and just how closely connected these people’s lives were to one another. In addition, students will also learn to critique either sympathetic or disapproving assumptions about groups of migrants that might otherwise led us to reinforce our own preexisting beliefs. And finally, students will also explore how those assumptions came to emerge by looking at historical memories of refugees in later generations.
Original version authored by Jesse Spohnholz
Readings and Primary Sources
Module Lesson Plan:
- Atlantic-Refugees-0.0-Module lesson plan
- Atlantic-Refugees-0.1-Schedule at a glance
- Atlantic-Refugees-0.2-About this module for students
Lesson 1:
Lesson 2:
- Atlantic-Refugees-2.1-Reading 2-Western europe
- Atlantic-Refugees-2.2-Primary Source-A refugee in the dutch republic
Lesson 3:
- Atlantic-Refugees-3.1-Reading 3-Western-Africa
- Atlantic-Refugees-3.2-Primary-Sources-3-Western-Africa
Lesson 4:
- Atlantic-Refugees-4.1-Reading 4-Refugees in the americas
- Atlantic-Refugees-4.2-Primary Sources-Refugees in the american colonies
Lesson 5:
