Slavery on The African Coast

            When people think of slavery in America they think of slave ships and slaves working on plantations. History books have been projecting these images into our heads for decades, what society has forgotten is what went on before the slaves boarded those ships. There is whole another side of American Slavery that is not really discussed and it happened on the coast of West Africa and further inland. It was here that the whole slave era started.

            It was on the coast of Guinea that the purchases of slaves took place and were brought from their tribes and society, which they were snatched from. John Barbot a French Royal African Captain describes this the scene at one of the camps:

“As the slaves come down to Fida from the inland country, they are put into a booth, or prison, built for that purpose, near the beach, all of them together; and when the Europeans are to receive them, every part of every one of them, to the smallest member, men and women being all stark naked. Such as are allowed good and sound, are set on one side, and the others by themselves; which slaves so rejected are there called Mackrons, being above thirty five years of age, or defective in their limbs, eyes or teeth; or grown grey, or that have the venereal disease, or any other imperfection. These being set aside, each of the others, which have passed as good, is marked on the breast, with a red- hot iron, imprinting the mark of the French, English, or Dutch companies, that so each nation may distinguish their own” (2)

            Many Africans were but into slavery by Kings of their own country or province, “The kings are so absolute, that upon any slight pretense of offences committed by their subjects, they order them to be sold for slaves, without regard to rank, or possession...” (2). Many people are very surprised to learn this as textbooks state that hunting parties that would go inland and snatch Africans from their societies and bring them back to the coast caught almost all slaves.

            Once the purchase has been  made and the ship captains have their new “cargo” they resort to new lows of cruelty to save a few pence:

           

“When we have agreed with the owners of the slaves, they are returned to their prison; where, from that time forwards, they are kept at our charge, cost us two pence a day a slave; which serves to subsist them, like our criminals, on bread and water: so that to save charges, we send them on board our ships with the very first opportunity, before which their masters strip them of all they have on their backs; so that they come to us stark-naked, as well women as men: in which condition they are obliged to continue, if the master of the ship is not so charitable (which he commonly is) as to bestow something on them to cover their nakedness.” (1)

People do not realize the whole story behind slavery and just how cruel this act of man really was. Some people would ask whether the act of being a slave in America was actually the easiest part of being a slave in colonial times.

(1) Bosman Williem http://college.cengage.com/history/world/resources/students/primary/eyewitness.htm

(2) Barbot, John

http://www.historywiz.com/primarysources/slavetrade.html

Transatlantic Slave Trade

This blog post will be about the transatlantic slave trade, also known as the “Middle Passage,” and what life was like aboard a slave ship.

             There are not many things in American history that were as controversial and brutal as slavery. Slavery is a horrible aspect of American history but it’s a part of our nation’s past and brought us to where we are today.

    It is with no hesitation that I say, the life of a slave was both hard and challenging, yet even at times depleting. While everyday life was nothing but tiring for a slave, some may say that the hardest aspect of slavery was the voyage from Africa to America – a voyage without choice or freedom. “Over the centuries, between one and two million persons died in the crossing.” (2) It has been stated that between10 to 15 million Africans were captured and sold into slavery. Slavery was already a part of life in Africa but not like the slavery that would come to define our American history.

    The transatlantic slave trade started “… along the west coast of Africa, from the Cameroons in the south to Senegal in the north, Europeans built some sixty forts that served as trading posts.” (2) Africans were captured inland then brought to the forts where they were held until it was time for the ships to leave port. One individual who brought insight into how the slave trade worked was a former slave by the name of Olaudah Equiano also known by slave name Gustavus Vassa. Olaudah wrote an autobiography while he was a freeman in Europe that became a best seller. Olaudah described the first time he saw a slave trip:
   
    “The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast, was the sea, and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo. These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror, when I was carried on board.” (1)

One can only imagine the terror all slaves felt when they were led down the ports to towards the ships that would be their homes for the next two to three months. Their lives had been uprooted and thus they were forced into a live with no freedom.

    Once slaves were aboard the ships they were escorted below deck into what they would be calling home for the endless days at sea. The living quarters, if you could call them that, was a space where the slaves were laid flat on their back and chained down under lock and key. The space was so small that most slaves could not even turn over or move around from one discomforting spot to the next. Olaudah describes what it was like below deck:

    “The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, 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 diedÑ-thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now became insupportable; and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated.” (1)

History has kept records with sketches describing and drawing the slave quarters on the passage ships. Slaves were “… crowded together, usually forced to lie on their backs with their heads between the legs of others. This meant they often had to lie in each other's feces, urine, and, in the case of dysentery, even blood. In such cramped quarters, diseases such as smallpox and yellow fever spread like wildfire.” (2) If the discomfort, embarrassment, and humiliation of being forces to sit in the feces of others was not enough, sick or infected slaves were thrown overboard. No slaves were treated for illnesses. In the months of agony, history shows that many slaves chose this fate over remaining chained to the lower deck, day after day against their will.

 Once the horrific trip was over, the slaves were sold to the highest bidder and from there begin their life of slavery.  The ships were packed with goods for the crew to bring to their home country and share with their families; therefore, starting the cycle over again. Many people think that being a slave in colonial America was awful and even unthinkable, but it was second to the actual trip to colonial America – an experience we must never forget about.   


(1) Olaudah Equiano, “The Life of
Gustavus Vassa” http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/Equiano.html

(2) PBS Online, “The African Slave Trade and the Middle Passage” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr4.html