Middle Passage

• Middle Passage


  The journey that the slaves were forced to make from West Africa to the New World
• Middle Passage


  • Overcrowding, conditions aboard the ships, insurrection, suicide, punishment and torture, diseases and the mental state of the slaves all contributed to the abnormal and abominable death rate of those who sailed the Middle Passage, slaves and sailors alike
• Conditions on the ships during the Middle Passage

  1. Africans crammed under the deck in the hold

  2. Had to remain there for most of the journey

  3. Space allotted to each slave was about 6 feet by one foot, not sufficiently high for him or her to sit upright nor long enough to stretch to their full lengths

  4. Had to stay in this restricted and cramped position for the entire journey that lasted from five to eight weeks

  5. Close confines and overcrowding resulted in a high death rate
• Captains attempted to compensate for the loss of slaves during the journey by cramming the equivalent amount when they were collecting slaves on the African coast
• In the immensely overcrowded space, the slaves often had to go without fresh air for weeks at a time
• The stale damp air and the intense tropical heat in the hold accompanied by the ranking and insufferable stench of a mixture of stale sweat, filth, urine and festering flesh, became the happy breeding ground for diseases and death
• Diseases including small pox, itch, dysentery, yaws, dropsy, fevers and flux frequently reached epidemic proportions, causing the death of slaves and crew alike
• Captains allowing slaves on deck during the daytime and forcing them to exercise

  Not out of benevolence but in the attempt to ensure that their investments arrived for sale in good condition
• Some captains in order to prevent mutiny and disobedience attempted to strike fear in the slaves by the use of appalling forms of torture
• It was not unusual for captains experiencing unfavourable winds to rid themselves of their cargo either by poisoning them or dumping them overboard to drown
• Melancholia


  A psychological disease of extreme depression brought on by the despair of loosing everything that gave meaning to life
• Melancholia was one of the greatest killers of slaves on the Middle Passage
• Preparing slaves for sale in the Caribbean

  1. Attempts were made to conceal all evidence of the suffering and horrors of the Middle Passage

  2. Captains used every possible means to improve the appearance of their cargoes and to make them attractive to the buyers

  3. Slaves were rested, fed, primed, had their heads shaved, wounds covered and muscles rubbed down with oil
• Some islands became "slave exchanges", where slaves were stored before being sold in the other colonies
• Tribal characteristics


  Important in determining the price of a slave
• Tribal characteristics


  • Pawpaws from Wydah were in greater demand because it was believed that they were more passive and hardworking than slaves from other tribes
  • Mandingoes were said to be incapable of withstanding the hard labour
  • Koromantins were strong but rebellious
  • Ibos were alleged to easily commit suicide
• Methods of selling slaves in the Caribbean

  The scramble and the auction
• The scramble


  1. Slaves were divided into groups for which fixed prices were set

  2. At a signal, the planters rushed on to the purchase area to inspect the groups and make their choice
• The scramble was eventually prohibited and the auction took its place
• The auction


  1. Buyers could more closely inspect the slaves and bid to the value of the slaves

  2. Slaves were again humiliated beyond human expectation - buyers would inspect them as they would an animal
• After purchase, the slaves were branded on their breasts with the masters' mark and immediately baptized into Christianity
• The Africans, thus having become the property of their masters, were given first instruction by an interpreter, who was usually a seasoned slave and they were taken to their new home of torture on the plantations
• Punishment of slaves


  • Brutal punishment became an integral part of the plantation system in an attempt to ensure productivity and keep the slaves submissive
  • Punishments were characteristically severe when compared to the crime that the slaves were supposed to have committed
  • Punishments were tools used by the planters and other colonial whites to ensure maximum labour, unquestioned obedience and total submissiveness of the large population of slaves in the colonies
  • The principal fear of the whites was that of rebellion by the overwhelming numbers of slaves and they believed that the only means of curbing attempts at such rebellion was to instill fear in the slaves through brutal and inhumane treatment
• Methods of punishing slaves

  • Whipping
  • Starvation
  • Dismemberment
  • Death
  • Mutilation
  • Branding
  • Pouring hot wax
  • Binding slaves close to wasp nests
  • Tying slaves on ant nests with syrup poured over them
• Slaves had no form of legal redress or of even legally defending themselves in such a society
• When slaves were sentenced to death by the courts, the owners were compensated for their loss