The African-American Ordeal: Capture to Destination

A continuation

A Slave’s Story – Olaudah Equiano

Autobiography capture/voyage: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African

A Slave’s Story – Olaudah Equiano Describes horrific conditions Noted African suicides

– Nets up along boat edge to limit attempts– Felt more suicides would have occurred if

nets were absent

A Slave’s Story – Olaudah Equiano Smells

– Human waste– Unwashed bodies

Feedings

A Captain’s Story – John Newton

Indentured servant on a slave ship

Becomes a Slaver Captain

A Captain’s Story – John Newton

Is “born again” as an Evangelical Christian following a rough, stormy trip

Poor health causes retirement – becomes an Anglican (Episcopalian) priest

A Captain’s Story – John Newton

Realizes horrors of slavery and seeks repentance.

Ends up writing the hymn, Amazing Grace

Provisions for the Middle Passage Slaves fed twice per day

– Poor and insufficient diet– But was based on African foods

• Vegetable pulps, stews, and fruits • Denied meat or fish• Ten people eat from one bucket (had one spoon

per ten people, but often lost in chaos)• Disease spread due to unwashed hands• Result: malnutrition, weakness, depression, death

Sanitation, Disease, and Death Astronomically high before 1750

– Due to length of travel time across Atlantic– Poor sanitation

• Germ theory unknown at this time

Sanitation, Disease, and Death Astronomically high before 1750

– Due to length of travel time across Atlantic– Poor sanitation

• Germ theory unknown at this time• Malaria, yellow fever, smallpox, dysentery were

common problems

• Do you know what dysentary is???????????

Sanitation, Disease, and Death After 1750

– Faster ships/faster trips– Hygiene and diet better understood– Early forms of smallpox vaccinations

Resistance and Revolt at Sea

Uprisings were common– Most rebellions before sailing when Africa

was still in sight– Some preferred death to bondage– Justification for harsh treatment by slavers

Cruelty

Middle passage horrors exaggerated– Historian Eric Williams says that stories

were influenced by those who hoped to end slavery

Cultural context– Misunderstanding of each other’s culture

(not that they tried to understand each other!!!!!!!!)

Cruelty Exceptional cruelties

– Slaves had half the space allowed indentured servants and convicts

Cruelty

Exceptional cruelties– Slaves had half the space allowed

indentured servants and convicts– Slavery was only suitable for non-Christians– Brutal treatment by crew members

BECAUSE AFRICANS WERE NOT SEEN AS EQUAL TO WESTERN EUROPEANS, THESE CRUELTIES WERE SOCIALLY ACCEPTED AT THIS TIME

African Women on Slave Ships

African women worth half the price of African men in the Caribbean markets

Fewer of them on the boat and they were not as valuable

Separated from male slaves made women easier targets

VI. Landing and Sale in the West Indies Pre-sale

– Bathed and exercised– Bodies oiled to conceal blemishes and

bruises– Hemp plugs used to block the bloody

discharge of dysentary GOAL: Get the most $$ from the sale

of the product = slaves

VI. Landing and Sale in the West Indies

VII. Seasoning (following Sale in West Indies) To modify behavior and attitude In preparation for resale to North

American planters

VII. Seasoning (cont.)

Creoles– Slaves born in the Americas

– Worth three times price of unseasoned Africans – Instructed New Africans

Old Africans – Had lived in the Americas for some time– Also instructed New Africans

New Africans (a.k.a.: “Salt-Water Negroes” or “Guinea-Birds”)– Goal: Make them more like Creoles

When is a slave seasoned?

? ? ? ?

VIII. The End of the Journey

Survival (Slaves have survived) – One-third died in first three years in West

Indies• Men died at a greater rate than women

Have adapted to new foods of the West Indies/Americas

VIII. The End of the Journey

Have learned a new language– Creole dialect well enough to obey

commands

They are no longer suicidal– Africans retained culture despite the

hardships and cruel treatment– Created bonds with shipmates that

replaced blood kinship (like an extended family)

IX. The Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade

Cruelties help end Atlantic slave trade

– English abolitionists

IX. The Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade Cruelties help end Atlantic slave trade

– English abolitionists• Moral crusade and economy less dependent on slave

trade• Great Britain bans Atlantic slave trade in 1807 • Patrols African coast to enforce

– United States Congress outlaws slave trade in 1808

IX. The Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade An ironic twist!

– Guinea and western central African kingdoms opposed the banning of the slave trade

– Their economies were dependent on the trade!

X. Conclusion

Nine to eleven million Africans brought to the Americas during three centuries of trade– Millions more died– Most arrived between 1701 and 1810– Only 600,000 reached the British colonies

of North America