Humans in Shackles is an Atlantic cultural history of slavery in the Americas that seeks to redress the distortions and imbalances of existing general histories of slavery, which have insisted on centering on the British North Atlantic world, especially the United States and the English-speaking Caribbean colonies. These histories have generally excluded the central role of Brazil in the Atlantic slave trade and slavery, while also ignoring the history of Africa and the role of enslaved women in the institution of slavery.
—Ana Lucia Araujo, Humans In Shackles (Introduction: "An Atlantic Cultural History," page )