The Slave Trade (Handout)
The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, lasted roughly from the 16th to the 19th centuries, where people were captured in
west Africa and transported across the Atlantic. Conditions on board the slave ships were so inhuman that many did
not survive the voyage. This famous image shows the way slaves would be chained lying down on benches for
perhaps 100 days, unable even to sit up.
Unbelievably, this formation was known as "loose
pack" as the slaves were lying on their backs. The
alternative, "tight pack", which had the slaves lying
on their sides, allowed the slaver to fit more slaves
onto the ship. However it was eventually abandoned,
not for humanitarian reasons, but due to the brutal
economic calculation that the higher mortality rate of
"tight pack" meant that fewer slaves reached the new
world alive than with "loose pack".
Once in America, Brazil or the West Indies, slaves
were sold at auction to the owners of plantations of
crops such as sugar, cotton and coffee. The ships
would then return to Britain laden with these crops,
then set out from Britain to Africa to begin the process
again – the so-called "triangular trade".
Slaves were forced to work by the threat of brutal
punishments if they refused, or even the threat that a
family would be split up by selling one or more family
members to another plantation. The children of slaves
automatically became the property of the same
plantation owner as their parents.
While slaves great prosperity to the South, none possessed the legal rights of even the most poorly paid employees.
Slaves – like livestock – were considered property, and as such were at the mercy of their masters. If they disobeyed
or failed to work hard enough, they could be beaten without legal consequences (although their economic value
discouraged such abuse). Most slaves on plantations were “field slaves,” who typically labored from dawn until dusk
cultivating the plantation owner’s fields. A “house slaves” worked as domestic servants.
Recommended Hollywood Movies you should view to gain a better understanding of
Slavery in America:
Amistad (1997) Directed by Steven Speilberg starring
Djimon Hounsou, Morgan Freeman, Matthew McConaughey
Roots (1977) Directed by Marvin J. Chomsky starring Maya
Angelou, Levar Burton, Ed Asner, O.J. Simpson
The Colour Purple (1985) Directed by Steven Speilberg
starring Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey
Beloved (1998) Directed by Jonathon Demme starring
Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Thandie Newton
After Viewing the Clips in Class and reading the eyewitness account of the
Slave Auction, record some descriptive terms that would describe the
experience of slaves.
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