Africans were enslaved by European nations, and ultimately the country of America, for various reasons. Perhaps the most obvious was if you could force someone into labor and not pay them, you could keep all the profit to yourself. Evil as it sounds, and horrific as it was, the system was profitable on many levels which sustained its growth.
One thing to keep in mind is many of the Africans sold into slavery were captured by their own people, locked in cages on the west coast and waited for a slave ship to dock in order to be transported to America, Brazil or some other location. This journey across the Atlantic is known as the Middle Passage. Many Africans died, or attempted suicide, during this voyage because they either knew what was coming and wanted to escape their fate, or they had no idea what was coming and never wanted to find out. Many of them refused to eat in order to induce starvation, but the ship captains would pry their mouths open and force feed the slaves in order to keep them nourished.
Read this account of a young African's journey on the Middle Passage. What are your reactions? Is there anyway to excuse the behavior of people involved in trading slaves? (FYI: When the passage mentions "necessary tubs"...it means a bucket used as a toilet)
We should be so thankful for clean air! Wow, I can't imagine going through the Middle Passage, being treated like dirt. Back then many people joined in on owning slaves. But I would hate to think of someone owning me, like I was just their piece of property. How worthless they must have felt being treated like this! What if your life was so terrible, you didn't even feel like trying to live. You just wanted to DIE. Well that's how the slaves felt. Although, there were some slave owners who were good to their slaves. The people who owned slaves may have not thought anything about it being wrong, them being humans. But the way Africans were treated was terrible. This is a sad part of America's history, a country founded on Christian morals, but a country who think owning people is ok. (144)
ReplyDeleteyay (: bonus points for hairbrushhhhh
DeleteThis is a very sad story. Many people had to deal with these conditions. This is only one of the many boats that shipped slaves through what we call the "Middle Passage." This is my paraphrased version of how the slave ended up in this situation. You are a prisoner of war after your people lost to a stronger tribe. Suddenly, a scary pale ghost comes in and snatches you away. You appear before a dark ocean liner known the "Cargo Ship". You board and are shown to the only room below deck forcefully. You look around and see many others like you. Suddenly the boat moves and you begin your terrible ocean cruise. Good thing the boat has air fresheners! (Wait, they don't?!) The stench of people's "buisness" and buckets used as tolets is almost too much to bear. To top it all off, to save on work, the sailors leave any dead bodies down there too, so you get the most realistic smell of death than any coffin simulator could dish out. Your menu is small with only two options for the meals you get. You can have discusting slop, or death served on a less than silver platter. When the ordeal finnaly ends, you have to work for the rest of your misarable life to some rich duddy that lives in style. As you can tell from this paraphrase, I strongly hate what our ancestors did to Africans.(241)
ReplyDelete*Doesn't this want to make you eat a sandwich right now?*
Did anyone watch the debate last night and if so, who won?
DeleteThanks to all who participated in my question before i wrote this.
DeleteOkay, just the fact of owning slaves is horrible! But everything that they went through during the Middle Passage just makes it even worse. I always knew that the Middle Passage was a very horrible time, but I never knew all of these details about things the Africans did and went through. I mean these are innocent people who are put through all of this, and they don't deserve this. I cannot stand to imagine being one of the Africans going through this. They were all crammed together under the deck with no fresh air; this sounds bad enough. But on top of this, the dead bodies and "toilets" were there with you. I definitely see why all of the Africans that went through this tried to kill themselves by refusing to eat, jumping overboard, and every other way possible. These people went through things we cannot possibly ever imagine (and probably don't want to). I feel horrible that these Africans were treated this way. It is a very bad example of our country. (174)
ReplyDeleteIts so depressing thinking about how horribly these people were treated. The environment they lived, or more like tortured, in was gruesome! They were treated like animals. If not worse than animals. I couldnt imagine being squeezed into the tiny space with many other people. Hearing all the groaning and crying. I am chlaustraphobic and if I was in that environment, I would have rather died as well! Who wouldn't have? And using a bucket as a toilet? Flat out gross and unsanitary! That's a good way to get sick. And I never thought about children being in these ships. That makes me want to cry. Imagine being a parent during this time, and having to watch your child go through all of this not knowing what was going to happen to them or what the next day would bring. Mr. Haston, you should at this point be picturing Caedmon (spelling? sorry) having to suffer through this. And they would sometimes drown and suffocate? That's pure torture! If the people tried killing themselves, they risked the possibility of being caught and punished. The people involved in trading them should be utterly ashamed!!!!!!!!!! There behavior was cruel. Although, I guess they didn't really know how wrong they were. It was just the circle of life to them! (now you should be picturing Lion King) We are so blessed to be where we are and have the freedoms we have. Dont you think? (236)
ReplyDeleteThe way the Europeans transported slaves is a cruel way. I thought the way the Europeans traded slaves were better than this, but I guess I was wrong. The stench must have been terrible to smell for those many days. What was really bad was when the Europeans found food and did not give some to the slaves as they were starving. I think if we were in that situation we would want to die or get off the moment we set foot on the ship. I would have wanted to be one of the few that got away from the ship by jumping off. I don’t think there is a way to excuse the behavior of the Europeans to the slaves, but this was our history. We are lucky today that slavery isn’t in America anymore. (137)
ReplyDeleteThis is a terrible part of our history where we messed up epically. We decide to enslave the Africans(bad decision number one), then we kidnap them and take them to America. One small thing happened in between Africa and America. It was called the Middle Passage. I think this is one of the worst mistakes Americans made. First off, slavery is wrong and human trafficking is a barbaric treatment of humans since we are all equal. I feel sorry for Equiano and all of the Africans who endured the hardships of the Middle Passage. The Africans weren't ever given fish, and were severely flogged. The grusome idea of them trying to leap overboard makes me depressed. Should America try to lord over other free countries? We should try to abolish slavery in the world. Mr. Haston, this slavery is UNEXCEPTABLE. We need to corporate with other countries and stop slavery and free enslaved people.(161)
ReplyDeleteWell that was a really sad story. Imagine if you were an African American on this boat. Think of the way you have been treated. Imagine being treated like dirt and someone owning you as their piece of property. I thought it was just sad, that people died just from the smell of the boat. It was also sad that the slaves wanted to die rather than stay alive on the Middle Passage. I would hate to be the Africans during this time, having to be crammed together under the decks with no good smelling air. Then the toilets and the dead people who had died from either starvation or from the diseases that spread around the boat. I’m just glad I was not born during that time. I am also glad that we had the Civil War to stop the cruelty of how the Africans were being treated. :) (150)
ReplyDeleteThis trip stunk, literally. With all those people confined into one small space, it radiated heat. That could almost kill someone by itself. Then he talks about the kids falling into the toilets; that’s disgusting and that would be a horrific way to die. The men on ship wouldn’t give the slaves any of the fish that they caught even though they had many left over, and if you tried to take one of the fish you would be severely whipped. Many wanted to drown themselves instead of becoming slaves. The Middle Passage was so bad that only one third of the slaves made the journey alive.(107)
ReplyDeleteThat was a very sad story. It didn't tell who was saying all of those things, but when you read further in it it shows that it was written by one of the slave. The fact that they would rather die than to stay and eventually be sold for slavery was gruesome. This story told of only a few things that the Europeans did to them. I don't understand why the Europeans crammed so many slave into the bottom of the ship. They may have thought that the more they bring the more money they get, but that is defiantly not true. The reason I say that is because the slaves would die because of such bad treatment and the over crowded space. By the time the Europeans would have made it the number of slaves would probably be the same as if they had just brought them over more suitably. It was very cruel that the Europeans would just toss over their remains of food rather than to give it to the very hungry slaves. The Africans were people just like the Europeans were, but the Europeans treated the Africans so poorly it makes me sick. (203)
ReplyDeleteThe Middle Passage is what they called the trip the slaves had to take to get to America. It wasn't anything like the trip the english took to get to America through.They would cram as many Africans as they could in one boat;which made for little space for them.The slaves were put below the deck with no fresh air. There was a horible stench,and you could hear many slaves crying out in pain and sorrow.Plus to make this worse they were all chained together,and you could barely move with all the people in there. I don't see how you could excuse the behavior of the slave traders. For they valued money more then a persons life. I would not wish this life on anyone. The way these people treated these poor people on the Middle Passage just makes me sick. Its also sad that they treated Africans lower then themselves;even through it says in the bible to treat all men equal!!!(169)
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a horible trip to me. I know I would not like to be there like every other person in the world. I wounder how the crew would have liked it if they were forced to be in the corgo of the ship with all of those people having to use the restroom and poeple dying and all. The crew should nott have made them eat. It was horible and unfair to the Africans. It's sad how the people like Olaudah wanted to die instead of live but I think that would be true if they were treated like they were. (103)
ReplyDeleteThis is AWFUL! I can’t even begin to think how the slaves felt. If you think you’re going through a bad time, think of that 10x worse and it MIGHT be fairly close to what the slaves went through. Not being able to move, only being able to breathe basically… Wow And the next time I think that it’s HOT, and I need water “soooo badly” I’m going to rethink that and remember it could be worse, A LOT worse. Like Jo, I never realized that kids were involved in the Middle Passage. When I read about the kids falling into the “necessary tubs” I almost like cried. And I hate to be gross but what would you do after you got them out? You hardly had any room to move and you probably didn’t have anything to clean them with… Just a thought. Also I couldn’t even stand hearing the moans of the dying and the shrieks of the women. I would want to die too! Then when he mentions that the whites just threw their extra fish overboard? Are you kidding me?!? It would not have hurt them in the least bit to have given some of the fish to the slaves. I can’t believe someone could be so heartless. Then, the slaves that survived had to be sold and pretty much had to go through another “Middle Passage.” They once again had to suffer through the heat. If they disobeyed, they were whipped and possibly killed. This part of history is very sad but I guess got us to where we are today. {266}
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This is terrible. First there's Columbus who actually didn't discover America, and now the Americans treat their own people like crap.(literally) Just because these innocent people had darker skin does not mean they are any less better than us. In Colossians 4:1 it says "Masters,treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven." I don't think this would be in the Bible if it was just a suggestion. The way these masters treated the slaves does not show any reference to that verse whatsoever. Also, they weren't even supposed to be slaves, they were forced. This kind of cruel treatment can come from one person...Satan. The part in the story about falling into the necessary tubs was disgusting. those poor kids! I tear up when i think about this. Sometimes I feel like its a gazillion degrees outside and i just wanna go inside,but those Africans had no place to go or air conditioning. I don't understand how any soul could be so cruel to a human that God made. The Bible says that God made us in his image,so they are basically treating God the way that they treated the slaves.(192)
ReplyDeleteThe way that these people were treated just really makes me feel awful. Just because their skin was a darker shade than their own they would treat them like crap. To me the worst part of the story was the fish. They caught all those fish and ate until they were all full. Then they wouldn't even give the Africans their left overs! They just tossed the fish back into the ocean. Also the way they made them stay below the deck. They had no fresh air whatsoever and they had to all share a couple of buckets to use the bathroom in. That would be absolutely terrible. It just bothers me how they would horrible they would treat these people.(111)
ReplyDeleteI really don't see how these people made money because for everyone that was killed, they must have lost money. I also don't understand just how you can watch people starve and not want to help. They can obviously see that they are wanting freedom so badly that they are taking it to the extremes. And think of where they are traveling, they are crossing the equator or just above it, these people are in a confined space, and everything smells. Kids are falling into the crap-buckets over and over again. I think this is ridiculous, and really, it all feels surreal. I just don't understand human cruelty. (108)
ReplyDeleteThe Middle Passage was definitely a dark period of time for our country. I am ashamed to be a descendant of these cruel people. It seems horrible to read about, and it is guaranteed that is was even worse to witness. My thoughts are, how could a person treat another human being like that? It is something that I will NEVER be able to fathom. It actually makes me sad that a country based on the Bible and Christian principles were capable of this. It’s crazy that they were treated so badly that they’d rather jump to their death than live. Although slavery was outlawed some time ago, the Middle Passage and slavery will always be a terrible topic in our history.
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The middle passage was a horrible time in America’s history. The effect of the slave trade has impacted the way Americans treat African Americans. I can barely believe the cruelty these people suffered. After reading this i was embarrassed to be an American. The impact the middle passage made is still impacting American life. This was spurring to extreme racism in America. For the cruelty to be so extreme that the people often attempted suicide is awful. The men that took part of this event should be ashamed. They are the reason that Americans are so racist to African Americans!
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How sick is that story? Those Americans must have been SO conceited!!! Can you imagine? They were awful!! First off, to enslave people is wrong anyway. If you were taking someone away from their home to go be a mistreated slave for the rest of their life, why can’t you at least give them a comfortable ride there?! Plus, the whole fish thing is so cruel! They haven’t even seen food in probably weeks, and you just throw it away in front of them. I get it if the crew just ate the fish until it was all gone (even though it’s still really wrong), but they had extras, and they threw them away!! How hard is it to just hand the slaves down under the ship a fish or two? And, throwing them over the boat is stupid for the sailors, as well! Different parts of the ocean provide different amounts of fish. I’m pretty sure no one promised them that they were going to even find any more fish on their entire trip to America! Then they would starve too! Plus, if they don’t feed the slaves, they would just die! What’s the point of bringing that many slaves over to America if only 1/3 of them actually make it there?! They seem really smart, huh? Not! The whole thing about slaves killing themselves is sadly more understandable then ANYONE killing themselves should ever be! I’m not blaming any one of them for doing that! I understand why they would want to get out of that complete misery. (260)
ReplyDeleteThe Middle Passage was very wrong. I would not have been able to stay on that boat for no more than 10 minutes. I am not even claustrophobic. The disgustingness of the middle passage was over the top, it carried so many viruses and bacteria. There is absolutely no excuse for the way the Africans were treated on their way to America. If America was a free country why were so many slave traders taking these people from their home to a suppose to be free country and made into probably less free then they were at their home to begin with.
ReplyDelete(102) my bad
DeleteWhy did America take Africans into slavery? Well, we are not gods last time I checked and we are no better than they are. The Middle Passage was a cruel treatment for the Africans. The slave traders had to get almost double the amount of slaves to take with them because when they reached their destination about half of the slaves were either dead or nearly dead. On the boats used to transport the Africans the crew didn't clean the boat, so the bacteria and diseases were terrible. The Africans had to lay down the whole time shoulder to shoulder. If the Africans got sick they would throw up on themselves and have to smell the stench the rest of the journey. In my opinion there is no excuse for the way they treated the Africans. (136)
ReplyDeleteThis is just SICK. S-I-C-K. I am even more disgusted than I was the first time I read this. And frankly, I am extremely embarrassed and ashamed to have decedents of these people. I would do anything for these actions to be taken back but I can’t because the past is the past. Imagine what this made our country look like. If I lived in another part of the world, I wouldn't be like “Oooo I want to go there; where they treat their slaves like a piece of junk or they treat their slaves like they are some kind of toy to be played with or made fun of.” Now back then, people probably did want to go to America and could care less about how they treated their slaves because that’s how they treated their own slaves. But what about our society now? America would NEVER get away with that kind of treatment to others. There would be a major controversy. That is because times have changed and people have changed. Although, I believe that our present is just as important as our past and even our future. What do you think America would be like if we had treated all of our slaves with respect and adoration or if we never even had slaves? If we never had slaves then we MIGHT not have had the Civil War. (Big emphasis on the MIGHT) As you can see every little or big action has some sort of consequence. Good or bad. The crews on these ships from the Middle Passage made bad decisions which did affect our country in the long run. Proverbs 13:16 “Wise people think before they act; fools don't and even brag about it!” This just proves that those were most certainly not wise people. (301)
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