The Panther Bay
Pirate Blog

This year (2011) marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the US Civil War . Many people may be surprised that a substantial amount of controversy still exists in some quarters (most notably the South ) about the causes of the war. Most historians recognize the critical issue was slavery. Southern states had an economy and culture built on plantation-style slavery. Northern states were more manufacturing oriented and agriculture was rooted in smaller, free hold land farms. Norther states were also becoming more populated, and this helped fuel anti-slavery sentiment to the point it became a breaking point. States' rights were at issue, but the tinderbox that ignited the war was slavery. (And absent slavery, it's unlikely civil war would have erupted although this is also disputed.)

The question of slavery is also central to the plot underlying Isabella's quest for her own identity in the The Pirate of Panther Bay . The backstory, as readers know, includes Isabella as an escaped slave. She is a pirate because she has little choice. If she were captured, she would be returned to the sugar plantation or, more likely, executed. (The classroom guide can be found here .) Here relationship with Juan Carlos pivots on her identity as an independent person. Juan Carlos's resistance to Isabella is based on his traditional understanding of Isabella as a woman and as a slave. (Recall the scene in El Morro when Juan Carlos is confronted by Maria.)

Historically, Isabella's background as an ex-slave is not without precedent. Slave traders were frequent targets for pirates. Peter Leeson's research in The Invisible Hook notes that Africans, presumably ex-slaves or men destined to be slaves, made up 25 percent to one third of some pirate crews.

Of course, we know the end of the US Civil War: The northern states won and slavery (thankfully) was banished from the freest nation on earth after hundreds of thousands died on both sides. The fact that the historical legacy of slavery continues to stir emotions nearly 150 years after its abolition is a telling sign of its impact on the human character and how we define ourselves in the modern era. In this sense, Isabella, despite being a pirate, is very much a modern woman.