From the early days of the American colonies, forced labor and slavery grew to become a central part of colonial economic and labor systems. Before being loaded onto the ships, the slaves–males and females–had their heads shaved by their African captors. Falconbridge reports, “About eight o’clock in the morning the Negroes are generally brought upon deck. Huskey, Robert J. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. The hold could become full of shit, blood and mucus (Falconbridge, 1973: 25). The darkies were obliged to go through every sort of motion. Slaves that were not stored next to these buckets had trouble reaching them. Adding to the despair and distress of being reduced to slavery was the widespread fear that they were being sold as food. The cold-blooded state of affairs and the brutal process of The Middle Passage began on the coast of West Africa where enslaved Africans were held prisoners by their African captors. “The men could only jump up and rattle their chains” (Dow, 1968: 195). They told us we were not to be eaten, but to work, and were soon to go on land, where we should see many of our country people” (1999: 35). In a scramble, each slave is priced the same and the slave-desperate buyers were allowed to purchase all they could claim. Drake reported what an auction entailed, “The Dutch maids walked around inspecting the naked Africans as if it was a common thing. Revelations of a slave smuggler. 1997. Dr. Philip Howard, from the University of Houston, described these platforms as strips of un-planed boards with no covering to protect slaves from the splinters and knots, usually having some amount of space between each board. 1967. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2016. Some of them were common criminals (Falconbridge, 1973: 15). They were forced to strip naked and were checked by their purchasers to make sure they were in suitable condition. They either died there or were sold cheaply to Jews, surgeons and other speculators. It seemed at times as if their arms would by pulled out of joint or their jaws cracked by some of the Dutch boors. In times of good weather, the slaves were brought up from the hold onto the main deck. They hurried back to their cabin and locked themselves inside. From the sickness, the compartments of the hold would become covered in blood and human waste and mucus. The Middle Passage: Voyage into Bondage. 1973. Read the passage below and answer the questions that follow. Change ). Those who suffered from dysentery or other diseases were stored in barracoons or huts located on the shore (Thomas, 1997: 432, 434). For the women, already having been preyed upon during the voyage, the fear must have run much deeper. ( Log Out /  Circle the correct answer. Upon being brought aboard the slave ship, the male slaves were shackled together in pairs with handcuffs and leg irons. Prentice Hall, Inc. Dow, George Francis. Primary Source: Olaudah Equiano Describes the Middle Passage, 1789. The modified design of the holds exacerbated and promoted unhealthy conditions for the slaves, resulting in high mortality, along with the physical weakening and psychological traumatizing of the rest. Students will learn new vocabulary words, determine the central idea of a primary source document, and then choose one of two activities that will help them to analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic. This paper gives the reader an idea about the cruel methods and inhuman conditions of The Middle Passage that left many enslaved Africans dead and caused many more to emerge physically weak and mentally terrified. Buying and enslaving the people who supplied this labor ultimately became a lucrative and tragic part of the commerce in the maritime web that connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas. According to Falconbridge, “Most of the slaves have such an aversion to the horse beans, that unless they are narrowly watched, when fed upon deck, they will throw them overboard or in each others faces when they quarrel” (1973: 22). Displaying top 8 worksheets found for - Primary Vs Secondary Sources. THE MIDDLE PASSAGE THROUGH PRIMARY SOURCES ... Middle Passage. Conditions inside the holds were inhuman. A slavers’ Logbook, or 20 years’ residence in Africa. Fifty Days on board a slave vessel. Razi, Abu Bahr Muhammad. In fact, most captains were ‘tight packers’, storing as many slaves as possible, each of them squished together like in a can of sardines (Drake, 1972: 39, 43, 59, 89). Bailey, Anne C. African Voices of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Beyond the Silence and the Shame. ( Log Out /  Slaves were treated so badly on the slave ships that about 15% of them died during the Middle Passage. With each meal, they were given one cup of water. 1993. In rough seas or rainy weather, it was necessary to close the airports to prevent the hold from being flooded and the victims could be locked below deck for days (Munford, 1991: 305). Then comes a pricking felt all over the body followed by “a pain in the throat and chest, with pain and heaviness of the head; inquietude, distress of mind, nausea, and anxiety. Materials. Many slaves displayed symptoms of pneumonia (Munford, 1991: 308, 309). The slaves that were carried ashore and sold in a dying state seldom survived for very long (Falconbridge, 1973: 33). the “middle passage” is an old maritime phrase, dating to the heyday of the Atlantic slave trade. Learning objectives; To investigate what was the middle passage?. “The women, in particular, clang to each other in agonies fiercely to be conceived, shrieking through excess of terror, at the savage manner in which their brutal purchasers rushed upon and seized them” (Falconbridge, 1973: 35). ... For this American colonies lesson, 4th graders research using primary and secondary sources, Native Americans, Europeans, and African Americans role in the... Get Free Access See Review. Source: David Eltis and David Richardson, Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (New Haven, 2010). Your email address will not be published. define the Middle Passage and relate its role in the slave trade ; discuss the conditions of slaves on Middle Passage ; Length: 1 hour . In another account by James Arnold, a surgeon aboard Captain Joseph Williams ship the Ruby, describes his captain’s victimization of young female slaves. This cruel treatment, if not encouraging death, undoubtedly helped to physically weaken and mentally terrify the slaves. Known as the "middle passage," this sea voyage could range from one to six months, depending on the weather. It was one leg of the triangular trade route that took goods from Europe to Africa, Africans to work as slaves in the Americas and the West Indies, and items produced on the plantations back to Europe. Original materials. Frequently, weak slave children would be found lying in a tub, smothered in sickness, unable to lift themselves out after having fallen in (Hill, 1993: 38). A biography of Theodore Roosevelt written in 2001 Primary Secondary 2. Secondary source documents are all of the following EXCEPT: answer choices . The first visible signs would have been the appearance of raised red spots on the skin. It is in these slave castles where some prisoners of the trade died from injuries inflicted during their capture or disease brought on from the wet, unhealthy environment (Palmer, 2002: 54). Horse beans were the cheapest food you could get in Europe at the time. Groups of ten would be given one bucket of food, which they ate out of with their hands. This produced copious perspiration, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells and brought on a sickness among the slaves of which many died” (1999: 33). Gregory Ablavsky et al., “British North America,” Daniel Johnson, ed., in Then, their teeth would loosen and eating would have become difficult and painful (Huskey, 1998). alternatives . Although the origins are unknown and the meaning has changed over time, The Middle Passage is a term that commonly refers to the transporting of African slaves from the West African coast, across the Atlantic sea to the Americas, aboard slave ships known as slavers. The whip that drove the unwilling and weak to dance was called a cat-o-nine-tails. These openings were only six inches by four inches, hardly enough to allow proper ventilation (Falconbridge, 1973: 24). Terrified Africans died and became feeble from a variety of diseases that were aggravated by the ruthless methods of their captors and the bestial conditions they suffered on board the ship. Thomas, Hugh. New York : Barnes & Noble Inc. Conneau, Theophilus Captain. They were boiled into a pulp served with a pepper laced “slabber-sauce”. Back to Historical Sources; Back to top. Northbrook, Ill: Metro books, Inc. Equiano, Olaudah. The rumor was that white cannibals had a fondness for eating African flesh (Pierson, 1977: 147, 148). Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2016. The right wrist and ankle of one person was connected to the left wrist and ankle of the other. He survived the many horrors of the Middle Passage to write an autobiography and become a leader in the movement to end slavery “Generally when the grown people in the neighbourhood were gone far in the fields to labour, the children assembled together in … Exterminated by the Bloody Flux. Many of these slaves were prisoners of war from native conflicts/slave hunting (Conneau, 1976: 104). The transport of African slaves formed one leg of the Triangular Trade, an economic system that drastically altered the societies of four continents. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. A negroe in the West-Indies informed me that after having been employed in kidnapping others, he had experienced this reverse. Grief typically filled their distressing eyes with tears during their coerced crooning (Dow, 1968: 195). New York: AMS Press. Slaves that were weak, but not deathly sick, were fed and cleaned before being marched to the merchants’ yard to await the grim treatment of the auction (Thomas, 1997: 432). He enjoys the great outdoors with his lovely wife and amazing son. August 1, 2017. Interpretations of original documents. He goes on to state that the sharks will follow the slave ships across the Atlantic, waiting to feed on any slaves that enter the water (Bosman, 1967: 281, 282). There is evidence that Equiano may have been born in South Carolina and not Africa. 83, No. Equiano states that, “I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: So that, with the loathsomeness of stench, and with my crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything” (1999: 32). 1998. The women were free from irons and could dance about more easily. I hope it was interesting for you. The life of Olaudah Equiano. Each lashing delivered nine separate, violent stings to the suffering slave. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. A slave inflected with scurvy would have become weak with joint pain. The voyage from Africa to the New World of the Americas was called the Middle Passage. 1. 1976. An analysis of primary sources or events . One day in 1924, five men who were camping in the Cascade Mountains of Washington saw a group of huge apelike creatures coming out of the woods. 3, Summer 1998 PR PEER-REVIEWED PERIODICAL Peer-reviewed publications on Questia are publications containing articles which were subject to evaluation for accuracy and substance by professional peers of the article's author(s). Examining the Middle Passage. Identifying Primary and Secondary Sources. A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea. The Gullah People of the Sea Islands For Teachers 8th. The transatlantic slave trade began around 1518 and ended sometime after the 1870’s. The Slave Trade. This article will briefly outline the major phases of The Middle Passage and describe some of the treatments and conditions the enslaved Africans experienced. These are two sheets of sources used in a Y8 slavery lesson. They contain a mix of written and picture sources. If a severe flogging did not inspire them to eat, they would burn their lips with hot coals, even threatening to force the burning coals down their throats. Newport News, Virginia: Smithsonian Institution Press. Crossing the Lake of Fire: Slave Resistance during the Middle Passage, 1720-1842 By Bly, Antonio T The Journal of Negro History, Vol. The Middle Passage Conditions. The horrified slaves that were not yet restrained with shackles, realizing they would never see their country and kin again chose to jump overboard to certain death by either drowning or shark attack (Dow, 1968: 70, 74). From the early days of the American colonies, forced labor and slavery grew to become a central part of colonial economic and labor systems. Sources created later by someone who did not participate in the event. They were then branded with the identifying marks of their owners, using hot irons (Drake, 1972: 43). “The eruption of smallpox is preceded by a continued fever, pain in the back, itching in the nose, and terrors in sleep” (Razi, 2000). It is one of history’s most horrific chapters, showing the human capacity for both cruelty and insensitivity and strength and survival. An analysis of primary sources or events. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade: Examining Primary Sources. History & Special Collections UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library. Primary Source: a record made by people who saw or took part in an event (originates from the past) Secondary Source: a record of an event written by someone not there at the time **Key question: Is this a primary/secondary source? Slaves were fed twice a day—at eight in the morning and at four in the afternoon. Source 10: Cruikshank's cartoon . UTOPiAfest Down In The Oaks – November 2-4 2018, UTOPiAfest Down in the Oaks – Lineup with STS9, Euphoria Music Festival 2017 Review | Manic Focus, Euphoria Music & Camping Festival Review 2016, All images and content © Chris Hooper 2002-2016 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - hooper@aoxoa.co. “It was his general practice on the receipt of a women slave—especially a young one—to send for her to come to his cabin so that he might lie with her. | Historians estimate that approximately 472,000 Africans were kidnapped and brought to the North American mainland between 1619 and 1860. Lesson Planet. William Bosman, another seaman involved in the African slave trade, remarks that he saw no sharks in the coastal waters of Africa’s gold coast except at the main outlets where slaves were dispatched to the Americas. Usually, at the first sign of scabs a slave would be thrown overboard to be devoured by the sharks that seemed to follow slave ships “as if they smelt the sickness” (Drake, 1972: 49). Pliny's dates are pinned to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 and a statement by his nephew that he died in his 56th year, which would put his birth in AD 23 or 24.. Pliny was the son of an equestrian Gaius Plinius Celer and his wife Marcella. Photographs of Civil War soldiers in their camp Primary Secondary 3. Letters written by Abraham … The platforms were “Placed nearly midway between the decks, at the distance of two or three feet from each deck” (Falconbridge, 1973: 20). It designated the bottom line of a trading triangle, between the “outward passage” from Europe to Africa and the “homeward passage” from the Americas back to Europe. Although the black traders who dealt in African slaves were careful not to revel the circumstances under which slaves were collected, Alexander Falconbridge, a surgeon who was involved in the slave trade, had reason to believe that most of the slaves were victims of a heartless action known as kidnapping (1973: 13). Middle Passage Sources. Although the origins are unknown and the meaning has changed over time, The Middle Passage is a term that commonly refers to the transporting of African slaves from the West African coast, across the Atlantic sea to the Americas, aboard slave ships known as slavers. The sheer scale of the trade can obscure the experiences of individuals. 1972. JMR. The Middle Passage Although the origins are unknown and the meaning has changed over time, The Middle Passage is a term that commonly refers to the transporting of African slaves from the West African coast, across the Atlantic sea to the Americas, aboard slave ships known as slavers. If the slaves danced reluctantly, or the least bit sloppy, they were whipped for inspiration (Falconbridge, 1973: 23). While they were in, the creatures attacked them by throwing rocks against the walls of the cabin. Of these, nearly 18 percent died during the transatlantic voyage from Africa to the New World. 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