Analysis Of John Thornton's African Dimensions Of The Stono Rebellion

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In this article “African Dimensions Of The Stono Rebellion”, John Thornton a professor of history and African American studies, who wrote about the African slaves in the Americas, and specifically the servants in South Carolina during the early eighteenth century. In his writing, the author describes the personality of Africans and their desire to escape from slavery, going through obstacles on their path to freedom. John Thornton is primarily an Africanist, with a specialty in the history of West Central Africa before 1800. His work has also carried him into the study of the African Diaspora, and from there to the history of the Atlantic Basin as a whole, also in the period before the early nineteenth century. Thornton also serves as a consultant …show more content…

Before that time Africans were using knives, axes, or even their bare hands, then they started using matchlock muskets. Many people in the continent were soldierly trained and knew how to use muskets, but the armies even needed more soldiers to fulfill their number militaries; “Not only were muskets used by a greater percentage of soldiers before but the use of trained military forces had also spread to outlying areas and led to recruitment of more soldiers among the population. (Thornton 11). John Thornton’s thesis in this article states that comprehending the history of the early eighteenth-century kingdom of Kongo could have contributed to the slaves’ motivations and thoughts about the Stono Rebellion (Thornton 1). This thesis statement expresses the main idea of the entire article, which makes the reader understand what the commentary will be about. Thornton’s thesis is preparing the readers mind about the upcoming thoughts that he is going …show more content…

The bases he used were books, other author’s articles, and encyclopedias. The author even used sources from some of the articles he wrote. For example, he cited thoughts from his article The art of war in Angola. Understanding the author’s sources helps the people who read his works believe that he is writing authentic information. Citations are very important for an article because without works cited the readers will think that the writer has written fictions that he can’t prove. John Thornton has used 74 sources in his African Dimensions Of The Stono Rebellion article. Using these 74 citations, proves that he is writing accurate information and he is not coming up with ideas who can’t be evidenced. In this article, the author is using footnote citations, which helps readers comprehend the sources easier, as they can see them on the same

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