Jennings, Lawrence C.

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Jennings, Lawrence C.

PERSONAL:

Education: Wayne State University, Ph.D.

CAREER:

University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, emeritus professor of history.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Camargo Foundation Fellowship, winter-spring, 2002.

WRITINGS:

France and Europe in 1848: A Study of French Foreign Affairs in Time of Crisis, Clarendon Press (Oxford, England), 1973.

French Reaction to British Slave Emancipation, Louisiana State University Press (Baton Rouge, LA), 1988.

French Anti-Slavery: The Movement for the Abolition of Slavery in France, 1802-1848, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Contributor to journals, including American Historical Review, Slavery and Abolition, French History, and French Historical Studies.

SIDELIGHTS:

Lawrence C. Jennings is an emeritus professor of history at the University of Ottawa. Jennings's research focuses primarily on French colonialism and the slave trade in general. His French Anti-Slavery: The Movement for the Abolition of Slavery in France, 1802-1848 has received considerable attention from critics. The book covers the rarely discussed second emancipation of slaves from the French empire in the early nineteenth century. Research for the book was conducted in English and French and includes sources from government ministries, police records, port cities' chambers of commerce, and both pro- and anti-slavery periodicals. Martin S. Staum, writing in the Canadian Journal of History, recognized Jennings's "passion for thorough research" and called the book "a work of remarkable craftsmanship and lucid style." He cautioned, however, that "it is not intended for the casual reader." Sharon B. Watkins similarly felt that the work contains "extensive research." In her review in the Historian, however, she claimed that the book would be useful for "general as well as specialized readers." J.R. Oldfield concluded in an English Historical Review article that French Anti-Slavery "is a thoughtful and illuminating book that not only provides an excellent account of the second French abolitionist movement but also offers some important comparative perspectives on British anti-slavery."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, December, 1974, Frederick A. de Luna, review of France and Europe in 1848: A Study of French Foreign Affairs in Time of Crisis, p. 1565; December, 1990, Seymour Drescher, review of French Reaction to British Slave Emancipation, pp. 1525-1526.

Canadian Journal of History, April, 2003, Martin S. Staum, review of French Anti-Slavery: The Movement for the Abolition of Slavery in France, 1802-1848, p. 115.

English Historical Review, November, 2001, J.R. Old-field, review of French Anti-Slavery, p. 1281.

Historian, winter, 2002, Sharon B. Watkins, review of French Anti-Slavery, p. 447.