Dr. Ryden’s research
interest focuses upon slavery in the age of Revolution. He is author of
the internationally recognized book, West Indian Slavery and British
Abolition (Cambridge University Press, 2009), which challenges the
conventional wisdom regarding the political and economic motivations
behind the final decision to abolish the British slave trade in 1807. He
has made presentations on slavery and abolition at a number of centers
for Atlantic World research, including the John Carter Brown Library
(Brown University), Columbia University, the Institute of Historical
Research (University of London), Oxford University, the University of
Minnesota, and, most recently, the University of the West Indies, Mona.
Presently, he is continuing his research on the West India sugar lobby
as well as beginning new research on the port of Galveston and its
maritime community.
SELECT PUBLICATIONS
Book
West Indian Slavery and British Abolition, 1783-1807 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009).
Co-Edited Book
Critical Race Studies across the Disciplines, eds. Jonathan Chism, Stacie Craft DeFreitas, Vida Robertson, and David B. Ryden (forthcoming).
Book Chapter
"Anthony Benezet, James Ramsay, and the Political Economic Attack on the British Slave Trade," in The Atlantic World: Essays on Slavery, Migration and Imgination, second edition, eds. Willem Klooster and Alred Padula (Abington: Routledge 2018).
"Maroon War, Peace, and Removal in the Eighteenth Century (Jamaica)," Jean Moomou ed.,
Sociétés marronnes des Amériques. Mémoires, patrimoines, identités et histoire XVIIe au XXe siècles 6 (Matoury, Guyane: IBIS Rouge Editions, 2015), 153-166.
Articles
“Manumission
in Late Eighteenth-Century Jamaica,” New West Indian Guide 92:3-4 (2018):
211–244.“Galveston’s Maritime Workers in 1880: A Quantitative View,” East
Texas Historical Journal 56:1 (2018): 40-54.
"'One of the finest and most fruitful spots in America:' An Analysis of Cotton Monoculture in Late-Eighteenth Century Carriacou,"
Journal of Interdisciplinary History 43:4 (2013): 539-570.
Spokesmen for Oppression: Stephen Fuller, the Jamaica Assembly, and the
London West India Interest during Popular Abolitionism, 1788-1795," Jamaican Historical Review, 26 (2013): 5-28.
"Sugar, Land Markets, and the Williams Thesis: Evidence from Jamaica's Property Sales, 1750-1810," co-authored with Ahmed Reid,
Slavery and Abolition 34:3 (2013): 401-24.
Awards
West Indian Slavery and British Abolition designated an "Outstanding Academic Title" by the American Library Association's Choice magazine, 2009.
Marie L. and William R. Harland Memorial Fellowship, John Carter Brown Library, Brown University Jacob Price Visiting Research Fellowship, William L. Clements Library of Early Americana, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2003.
Economic History Association's Arthur H. Cole Grant-in-Aid funded research in London, England, 2002.
Finalist for the Alexander Gerschenkron Prize given by the Economic History Association for the best dissertation in economic history, 2000.
People's Choice Award, Annual Quantitative History Poster Session, Department of History, University of Minnesota, 1995.
Full tuition scholarship to attend the University of Delaware, College of Business and Economics, 1991-2.
