This Special Issue collects articles on urban slavery in the Atlantic world during the time when the institution of slavery was being abolished globally (c.1770s–c.1880s). At the time of abolition, most slaves were held on plantations, but this did not mean that the urban context of slavery was unimportant. In the cities of the Atlantic world, slavery was pervasive, and the cities themselves played an important role in the functioning of the slave system. This Special Issue seeks to examine urban slavery in its connection to the wider slave-based economy, and to address how slavery in the cities changed when abolition appeared on the political agenda in the Atlantic world. The articles in this issue find that urban communities went through great changes in the age of abolition and these changes proved crucial to determining the legacies of slavery and its abolition. Recovering the history of urban slavery in this area should come to inform the current mainstreaming of the memory of slavery around the Atlantic world. Attention to its history can provide new layers of understanding to the persistence of inequity and historical silencing today.

中文翻译：

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简介：废除时代的城市奴隶制

本期特刊收集有关在全球废除奴隶制制度期间（约 1770 年代至约 1880 年代）大西洋世界城市奴隶制的文章。在废除奴隶制时，大多数奴隶都被关押在种植园中，但这并不意味着奴隶制的城市背景不重要。在大西洋世界的城市中，奴隶制无处不在，城市本身在奴隶制度的运作中发挥了重要作用。本期特刊旨在研究城市奴隶制与更广泛的奴隶制经济的联系，并探讨当废除奴隶制出现在大西洋世界的政治议程上时城市中的奴隶制如何发生变化。本期文章发现，城市社区在废奴时代经历了巨大的变化，而这些变化对确定奴隶制及其废除的遗产至关重要。恢复该地区城市奴隶制的历史应该会为当前大西洋世界奴隶制记忆的主流化提供信息。关注其历史可以为今天持续存在的不平等和历史沉默提供新的理解。