Reconstructing the Archives of Slavery dispersed across Africa, Caribbean, Europe and the Americas
Artificial Intelligence plays a pivotal role in transforming how societies preserve, reconnect, reinterpret and share their cultural memory. Reconstructing the shared, yet fragmented, dispersed historical records of slavery through critical AI processes has the power to restore lost memory and stolen, disconnected human identity across Africa and the Caribbean. Through advanced technologies such as multilingual language models, digitisation and transcription, and intelligent archive discovery, the Africa–Caribbean Hub for Artificial Intelligence supports collaborative efforts to bridge archival silences, reconstruct dispersed slavery records, preserve cultural heritage, and make knowledge about the Atlantic slave trade and its legacies more accessible for future generations.
The PJ Patterson Institute for Africa Caribbean Advocacy (INAFRICARA), through its Africa-Caribbean Hub for Artificial Intelligence (AI), and in collaboration with strategic partners, is undertaking a programme of inquiry and research supported by Afreximbank. A key aspect of this programme examines how Africa and the Caribbean can leverage AI for social and economic transformation. Within this broad agenda is the recognition that artificial intelligence has the power to address disrupted historical heritage and erased memory of the regions, towards restoring agency, empowerment and the interconnectedness between Africa and the Caribbean. By combining technological innovation with historical scholarship, the Africa Caribbean Hub for AI aims to position Africa and the Caribbean not only as subjects of historical inquiry but as leaders in digital reconstruction and narrative reclamation.
This aligns with the work of INAFRICARA in its pursuit of fostering and strengthening the profound connections between Africa, the Caribbean and the wider African Diaspora as well as South–South diplomacy, collaboration, and reparative and economic justice.
Addressing Erased Memories, Archival Gaps and Historical Silences
The trans-Atlantic slave trade spanned four centuries, forcibly extracting millions of Africans, resulting in catastrophic demographic and economic devastation across Africa, stripping them of identities as they were recorded merely as property and financial assets. The brutality of slavery further fractured and severed direct genealogical, cultural and linguistic traditions between Africa and the Caribbean, leading to forgotten familial lineages and ethnic roots. The voices of Africans were further silenced by traditional histories of the slave trade and slavery which were produced almost exclusively by European colonizers, traders, overseers and colonial administrators and reflected deep colonial bias.
The reimagining and reconstruction of slavery archives through a critical lens is therefore urgent to challenge and rectify colonial bias, and restore stolen human identities.
Yet this process remains challenging as much of the history of slavery in Africa and the Caribbean exists in fragments — scattered across territories of former colonial powers, remains locked in private collections, archives, church registries, and maritime archives, In addition, many are deteriorating in vulnerable environments as hurricanes, humidity, and time have further damaged local repositories.
AI-based image restoration, handwriting recognition, and cross-archive data linking, has been instrumental in strengthening the work to recover and reconstruct erased slavery narratives and degraded historical documents.
However, AI’s processing power also presents limitations of hallucinations which introduce distortions, and in some instances replicate and perpetuate the biased logic of slave traders and colonisers. Therefore caution is being exercised in reconstructing archives, by cross referencing additional records including baptismal and runaway slave advertisements towards a history of the enslaved. The far reaching capabilities of AI tools and resources are however foundational for archival research and analysis.
Artificial intelligence provides a powerful opportunity not to rewrite history, but to recover it responsibly, transparently, and in partnership with descendant communities.
Troubling the Slavery Archives: Shifting to Agency, Identities and Lived Experiences
Drawing inspiration from, and pursuing deep collaboration with, existing projects such as Slave Societies Digital Archives, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of Slavery, Documenting Africans in Trans-Atlantic Slavery, and a most recently funded research project at the National Archives, as well as digital preservation efforts at institutions like the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and the Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC), will position the Hub to advance the recovery of lost and stolen archives of slavery.
The Africa-Caribbean Hub for Artificial Intelligence will therefore leverage advanced AI tools to:
– Digitize and restore fragile and damaged archival documents
– Use machine learning to transcribe handwritten plantation records, ship logs, wills, and manumission papers
– Reconstruct incomplete datasets across territories in Africa and the Caribbean
– Map historical movements of enslaved peoples and free Black communities
– Support genealogical tracing for descendants seeking ancestral records
– Build ethical, community-centered digital repositories accessible to scholars and the public.
Collaboration
This Initiative is therefore contingent on deep collaboration and will bring together historians, archivists, data scientists, genealogists, and cultural institutions across Africa and the Caribbean. Its mission is to address the fragmentation, loss, and inaccessibility of historical records caused by colonial extraction, environmental degradation, and centuries of neglect. The project will seek partnerships with universities, national archives, museums, and ministries of culture across the Caribbean and Africa, as well as international collaborators engaged in digital humanities and archival science.
The Africa Caribbean Hub for AI invites scholars, technologists, archivists, philanthropic partners, and descendant communities to help shape this transformative effort.
Select References
Caribbean and West African scholars to lead new research into transatlantic slavery. (2026).
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/caribbean-and-west-african-scholars-to-lead-new-research-into-transatlantic-slavery
dLOC. Digital Library of the Caribbean. (2026). https://dloc.com/
Documenting Africans in Trans-Atlantic Slavery (DATAS). https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FT015314%2F1
Slave Societies Digital Archives. (2026) https://slavesocieties.org/
About the Africa-Caribbean AI Hub
The Africa Caribbean AI Hub at INAFRICARA, launched in June 2025 at the University of the West Indies, aims at fostering collaboration, capacity building, and sustainable development in Africa and the Caribbean through AI innovation. It seeks to deepen regional cooperation, enhance AI capabilities, and leverage AI for social and economic transformation, positioning Africa and the Caribbean as active participants in the global AI ecosystem.
The Hub’s core objective is to build regional capacity in artificial intelligence across Africa and the Caribbean, enabling both regions to participate in the high-value stages of the global AI economy, moving beyond raw material and export towards active participation in semi-conductor supply chains, digital infrastructure, AI research and development, and workforce training. Through intentional collaboration, the Hub focuses on developing ethical, inclusive, and development-oriented AI solutions to address critical challenges including climate resilience, agriculture, health, and sustainable development.
About INAFRICARA
The PJ Patterson Institute for Africa Caribbean Advocacy, (INAFRICARA) UWI, is committed to fostering and strengthening the umbilical connections between Africa, the Caribbean and the wider Diaspora. With a vast network of distinguished patrons, scholars and experts, the Institute seeks to spearhead initiatives that are rooted in a framework for the coordination of public advocacy and partnering between Africa and the Caribbean towards economic growth and social empowerment, cultural exchanges, and enhanced trade and investments in the regions.
