The Middle
Passage
EQ: What was life like for African
people taken captive during the
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade?
Trans-Saharan Slave Trade


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Between the 10t – 14th centuries, African captives
were sold in Islamic markets around the area of
present-day Sudan.
Other captives were shipped north across the
deserts of northwest Africa to the Mediterranean
coast (to Morocco) where they were purchased
and enslaved in Spain, Portugal, and other
countries.
The Songhai Empire, a large African state, sold
debt slaves. When they paid off the debt, they
could gain freedom.
What was the Triangular Trade or Middle Passage?
Label the goods that were traded on each part of the
journey
1.Manufactured
goods such as
clothing, furniture
and guns
3
1
2
2. Slaves were
transported across
the Atlantic. This
took 3 months.
3. Tobacco, cotton,
sugar were
transported back to
Europe.
Why did they use
Africans?

Europeans found new labour-intensive crops in
the Americas, such as sugar, tobacco, and cotton.

So many natives had been killed by the Spanish
that it created a labour shortage and a mini-Ice
Age.

Other African kingdoms thought selling slaves to
Europeans was a convenient way to exile
potential enemies and rebels, as well as gain arms
and money.

Africans had previous contact with Europeans,
so were resistant to diseases that killed Native
Americans. They were also had greater resistance
to tropical disease than Europeans.
Comparison
 Comparing a Middle-Passage slave ship to a modern
day cruise ship
 On this ship, the
‘Thomson Majesty’
 The size of a
regular cabin for
two people
measures 3 m2
(roughly
the size of a small
bedroom in an
average house).
In comparison, aboard this slave ship, ‘The Brookes’
The Sleeping Quarters was 0.4x1.8m for men, 0.4x1.5m for
women, 0.3x1.5m for Boys, and 0.4x1.8m for Girls.
What problems can you imagine come with sleeping on and
living in poorly maintained wooden quarters? What did this
look like?
A famous picture of the
Ship’s layout.
A Drawing of how the
enslaved would sleep
 Slaves would be routinely punished with whipping and beating
amongst other forms of punishment.
 They would be held in captivity and below the deck of the ship all
night with no access to any essentials such as bathrooms.
 When they were allowed on the upper deck for brief
period during the daytime, slaves were forced to
‘exercise’.
 Often this took the form of being forced to dance for
their master’s amusement.
 In such unbelievably terrible conditions, slaves
sometimes tried to rebel to overthrow the rule of the
ship’s crew.
 How did slave ship captains prevent rebellion?
 As time passed, suicide by jumping into
the sea became very common.
 This was a problem for ship captains as
slaves were very valuable.
 The methods used to combat suicide
therefore, were very severe.
 For example, captains used the sharks
that followed the ships as a means to
terrify slaves. One ship captain, who had
a rash of suicides on his ship, took a
woman and lowered her into the water
on a rope, and pulled her out as quickly
as as possible. When the slaves could see
her, it became apparent that the sharks
had already killed her—and bitten off the
lower half of her body.’
Imagine:
What is he
thinking?
…hoping?
…wishing?
…remembering?
…seeing?
…feeling?
Scientific Racism
Colonization
Map
LETS TALK
ABOUT IT
Class discussion/share about your
answers from the artifact walk and
‘imagine’ activity.
Discussion Topics
Do you think the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (Middle
Passage) has any relevance in today’s society?
 How does it affect politics, culture, and race relations? In the
United States? In South America?
 What was the legacy in European colonies and cities?
 Do you think slavery still exists today?
 What do you think is the MOST IMPACTFUL thing we
still see/experience/think today as a direct result of the
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade?
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tekhnologic
Diary Entries

Your Task will be to write THREE diary entries, (at minimum of ½ a page each & maximum 1 ½ full
page each), choosing from the following perspectives:

A native African slave trader selling other Africans

A European slave trader (the captain or a business man in Europe)

A member of the ships crew transporting slaves

An enslaved African

A slave owner originally from Europe now living in The Americas (you choose where)

Write about “your” feelings and experiences. Describe this character’s role to the slave trade. How
do they participate? How does this person feel about the institution of slavery? What are its
advantages and/or disadvantages from his/her perspective? What are this person’s goals? Anxieties?
Etc. You can write as a man or a woman and are free to change genders with each new perspective as
you wish.

For example, if you chose to write from the perspective of an enslaved African person you could:

Describe how you were first captured.

Describe the journey to the coast of Africa. How many people were there with you? What were the
conditions like?

How did you survive on the boat over? What were conditions like? What happened to your friends and
family?

What is your fate now? What kind of work has been assigned? Do you still have hope of escape or
freedom?
Colonization of North America
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o69TvQqyGdg&t=195s