The African diaspora is commonly understood through the lens of the transatlantic slave trade, particularly the forced migration of West Africans to the Americas via the Middle Passage. However, a broader examination reveals the interconnectedness of this route with concurrent slave trade networks in the Indian Ocean and across the African continent. By integrating biological and archival data from sites in the Caribbean and the South Atlantic Ocean, new research highlights how shifting labor systems in the 19th century impacted migration flows and the origins of enslaved and recaptive individuals. This event invites participants to reconsider the boundaries of historic diasporic connections, identity, and theory, offering novel insights into the global dispersal of Africans and the enduring legacies of the slave trade.