34 - Aballow’s Story

Summary

In 1851, the acting judicial assessor of the British settlements on the Gold Coast investigated a case of suspected slave-dealing by a European trader. In this investigation, an enslaved woman by the name of Aballow, a number of her fellow slaves, and other Africans appeared as witnesses and testified about her experiences. Their testimonies provide a rare and exceptionally rich account of the career and experiences of a female slave in West Africa in the era of the illegal slave trade. This chapter addresses how reliable are these testimonies and how do they contribute to the understanding of the experience of slavery and the slave trade. To suppress the Atlantic slave trade in November 1851 the British authorities at Accra investigated the affairs of the British trader, John Marman. Marman's household in Accra comprised a large number of slaves who were employed in domestic service.