In this installment of the W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute Colloquium Series, Jorge Felipe-Gonzalez, assistant professor in the Department of History at the University of Texas in San Antonio, will present on his forthcoming work "The Slave-Trading Mafia: Transatlantic Networks and the Foundation of the Cuban-based Slave Trade". This extensive research project and forthcoming book draw upon a decade of investigation utilizing multinational archival sources from Cuba, the U.S., Spain, The United Kingdom, and Sierra Leone. The book delves into the complex dynamics of Cuba's emergence and expansion as a prominent transatlantic slave-trading colony during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. "The Slave-Trading Mafia" uncovers the significant influx of American slave traders to Cuba following the abolition of the slave trade in 1808. Dr. Felipe-Gonzalez presents meticulous archival evidence to demonstrate the pivotal role of this relocation in the establishment and expansion of Cuba's transatlantic slave-trading industry, as well as its connections with Western Africa. The book, with its comprehensive Atlantic scope, also explores the establishment of Cuban-financed slave trading stations in Africa and their far-reaching socio-political impact on African polity, particularly in southern Sierra Leone. 

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