The transatlantic trade in Africans – Cont’d
THE MIDDLE PASSAGE JOURNEY – PART III
DIRECTIONS
1. Describe the experiences of the African captives during this Middle Passage journey.
2. Compare the varying perspectives of the different characters who experienced the Middle Passage journey.
In this week’s lesson, you will continue your discussion of the the Middle Passage journey and consider the conditions aboard the slavers as the African captives journeyed to the Americas. First, you will read an abbreviated passage that explains the experience of an African girl aboard a slaver. Then you will read a passage about Olaudah Equaino’s journey aboard a slaver to the Americas. As you review these sources, think about the purpose of each and the role that descriptions play in communicating that purpose. At the end of the task, you will be asked to write an essay. Read the passage titled The Diary of a Slave Girl. While you are reading, annotate the passage.
THE MIDDLE PASSAGE: COAST OF GAMBIA IN AFRICA TO THE WEST COAST OF AMERICA:
“... They then dragged us all down below the deck and started separating us again into groups of ten. When I looked around at first I thought it was quite nice, it was clean, but yet again I was wrong. What they did to us next was horrible; they started lifting us up, not caring about us at all. They then dropped us onto the planks of wood and chained us onto them. We were side by side touching the person next to us, ten people to a row and there were five planks of wood on top of each other. With hardly any room in between them, that was the space that we had to fit into. I am here now still chained up, lying down look down up at the deck. At least me and Fantah are next to each other. I guess we also have one of the best positions to be chained up to. We are on the 5th of the wooden planks, on top of everyone else, at the edge and also the nearest to the light. It is like we are in coffins stacked and placed next to each other, I call it the coffin position, because it is, so do the rest of the African women.
“The smell is awful, absolutely vile, it smells of excretion, vomit, sweat, rats, mice and everything else that comes along with that sort of thing. The main cause of the smell is the vomit and excretion, mainly because we can’t move when we need to go to the loo, so we have to do it where we sit. Meaning that it just builds up and up until we aren’t bothered about it anymore, the White men haven’t bothered to come and clean it all away yet, and I doubt that they ever will. Another reason why I would hate to be on the bottom plank. Vomit is an awful thing and we can’t stop it, especially because the sea is so rough, therefore we are continually being tossed around only making the sea sickness worse. I think it is because of the sea sickness that I have thrown up 5 times already, during this weird and horrific journey, to God knows where. Right now I have excretion all over me, and what I hate is that I can’t do anything about it. Fantah is praying to Allah right now and I was up to a minute ago. It’s the only hope we have, the only thing that we can do. I think all of us are praying, but in different native tongues, there are many women here all from different tribes. We have tried to communicate but it hasn’t worked so far and we just don’t have the energy.
“He dragged me on to the deck and away into a different room with loads of other drunken White men in. I was scared, what where they going to do to me? I soon found out. They tossed me around like a ball between them, each time ripping off a bit of my clothing off me. I soon stood there in the middle of a group of jeering, drunken White men, naked and terrified. They enclosed on me like a pack of animals, shouting at me. When the first one touched me I screamed out in terror and didn’t stop screaming for ages afterwards. What I knew was that when I was finally chucked out of that hell hole, along with my clothes, I was no longer a proud Mandinka Maiden.
“What I ran into after I ran from the room was worse than what I had just experienced, an African man bending over crying out in pain while he was being whipped by a White man repeatedly. What he was being whipped with was a whip with nine strands of leather coming from its handle. It looked like a cat with nine tails clawing at someone’s back, a cat-o’-nine -tails whip. I had to help him, so I ran over and pushed him out of the way. I only ended up getting whipped myself, three times, then being dragged away and chained up again, I never saw the man after that. The pain in my back was unbearable, making me scream again for the tenth million time that day. I think I passed out, because when I woke up I was back on 5th plank, by the end, under the deck, again.” Read the passage titled Equiano’s Autobiography. While you are reading, annotate the passage.
EQUIANO’S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African.
“... At last, when the ship we were in, had got in all her cargo, they made ready with many fearful noises, and we were all put under deck, so that we could not see how they managed the vessel. But this disappointment was the least of my sorrow. The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole ship’s cargo was confined together, it became absolutely pestilential ...
“The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. Happily perhaps, for myself, I was soon reduced so low here that it was thought necessary to keep me almost always on deck; and from my extreme youth I was not put in fetters. In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of death, which I began to hope would soon put an end to my miseries. Often did I think many of the inhabitants of the deep much more happy than myself. I envied them the freedom they enjoyed, and as often wished I
could change my condition for theirs. Every circumstance I met with, served only to render my state more painful, and heightened my apprehensions, and my opinion of the cruelty of the whites.
“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. The air soon became unfit for breathing, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died. This wretched situation was made worse by the chains. The shrieks of women, and the groaning of the dying, created a scene of horror almost unbelievable. Three desperate slaves tried to kill themselves by jumping overboard. Two drowned, the other was captured and beaten unmercifully. When I refused to eat, I too was beaten.” The Interesting life of Olaudah Equiano, 1789 You have learnt about the conditions aboard slavers during the Middle Passage journey by reading two articles The Diary of A Slave Girl and Equiano’s Autobiography. In an essay, describe the conditions aboard slavers during the Middle Passage journey. Support your response with evidence from each source. Total 25 marks