Lab Assignment 2: Reverse Engineering Forced Migration Project

The project I explored was The Forced Migration of Enslaved People in the United States. This project focuses on visually representing and exploring the forced migration of enslaved individuals during the decades between the banning of the international slave trade in 1808 and the abolition of slavery during the Civil War. In addition to this, the project highlights the massive and harrowing relocation of around 850,000 enslaved men, women, and children during the period. The project utilizes an interactive map to illustrate the origins and locations of the enslaved people and where they were moved to through the American slave trade and the migration of planters from 1810 to 1860.

I have attached a picture below of the interactive map used in the project. Below, you can see that this map shows immigration and outmigration for different states in the United States. In Virginia that year, there were 979 immigrations and 121,769 outmigrations.

Sources: The project relies on historical census figures and estimates to collect information about the birthplaces of enslaved individuals and their subsequent migrations. The data for the population, cotton, and sugar comes from the Minnesota Population Center, National Historical Geographic Information System: Version 2.0 (Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota 2011). State boundaries are from the Newberry Library’s Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. Techniques from the historian Frederick Bancroft are also utilized for estimates.

Services: This digital project aims to estimate the approximate immigration and outmigration of enslaved people in the United States from 1810 to 1860. The methodology involves utilizing the historian Frederick Bancroft’s technique, which calculates population growth rates using census figures. This technique assumes uniform growth rates across regions and applies formulas to determine immigration and outmigration. Additionally, the project employs two other techniques to ensure comparability across decades: the creation of a ‘union’ in GIS and the overlaying of hexagon-shaped spaces over the South.

Presentation: A “bubble plot” is utilized to visualize data created by generating the largest areas within two counties across subsequent decades. Additionally, a map is used to overlay a honeycomb of hexagon-shaped spaces to estimate immigration and outmigration. There is an interactive map designed to display insights into the scale and patterns of forced migration between 1810 and 1860. The person using this map can look directly into different states, decades, and narratives of firsthand accounts of the slave trade.

Creators of the website and their relationship to the institution: The individuals involved in creating the website for “The Forced Migration of Enslaved People” have a close relationship with the Digital Scholarship Lab. Robert K. Nelson, Edward L. Ayers, Justin Madron, and Nathaniel Ayers are part of the staff at the Digital Scholarship Lab. The developers, designers, and staff at Stamen Design, listed as contributors, collaborated with the Digital Scholarship Lab on this project. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation provided grant funding for the development of American Panorama, which includes this specific project. Therefore, the key contributors have a direct relationship with the Digital Scholarship Lab and, in some cases, with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, indicating a strong institutional affiliation.

Relation to other academic fields: This project is related to the academic fields of American history and geography. It digs into the history of the forced migration of enslaved people in the United States. It is also related to geography because it studies the distribution of populations. 

Question: I was curious about the rationale behind choosing the GIS technique of a “union” in the project; what factors led to its preference over alternative techniques? I am curious to learn more about GIS techniques, which I am sure we will have a chance to learn about in future classes!