...“ I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” - Harriet Tubman. From 1619 until the end of the slave trade many Africans were forcibly brought to the Americas. Imported to the Americas for economic gain, slaves were often treated inhumanely. Physically and mentally exploited, slaves were seen as property. Today slavery is seen as a dark part of history because African people were mistreated, suffered cruel working conditions, and had their human rights violated. By looking at the lives of slaves one can see the true hardships these people faced during this period of time in history. Starting with the Middle Passage and continuing to their everyday lives on plantations, slaves were treated...
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...Politics in Robert Hayden’s First “Middle Passage.” African American Review 45, no. 4 (Winter 2012): 557-573 Through the extensive dissection of Robert Hayden’s poem “The Middle Passage,” Carl Plasa argues that “The Middle Passage” was essential in addressing the segregationist structure of 1940s America. Although, according to Hayden, the main purpose of his work was to “contribute toward an understanding of what our past had really been like”(557). While it did just that, it had a more constructive effect on Americans in the 1940s. During a time of segregation, “The Middle Passage” reminded Americans of their past identity as oppressors. As Hayden recalls the hardships and cruelties upon the slave ships, his goal is to inspire a project of counter-violence. I specifically enjoyed the line, “Shuttles in the rocking loom of history, the dark ships move, the dark ships move” (567). This metaphor cleverly combines the slaves’ labor aboard the ships with the motion of the machines Northern American workers used to make profitable textiles. Through this ironic metaphor, I believe that Hayden is trying to tell Americans of the 1940s that most people wrongfully benefitted from slavery; it wasn’t just the south. He wants to remind Americans that no one was right when it came to slavery, and everyone should be accepting and sympathetic to all African Americans. Thus, Plasa provided me with an in depth look at the ongoing importance of the middle passage as it is used to inspire the end...
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...three-sided international exchange of goods involving Europe to Africa, Africa to the Americas, and the Americas to Europe. The first leg was European ships sailing to Africa carrying iron commodity, textiles, rum, guns, ammunition, and manufactured goods in exchange for spices, gold, and most importantly slaves. The second leg involved ships sailing to the Americas voyaging through the route primarily known as the Middle Passage carrying the slave’s required to work on plantations in exchange for goods. A slave explains the ghastly conditions of the middle passage first-hand as, “This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a...
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...The Middle Passage was the triangular slave trade route between 1450 and 1860. It was called the triangular trade because he trade was between three countries. First, commercial goods were shipped to Africa for and traded for African slaves. The slaves were then brought to the Americas in exchange for raw materials. Finally the materials were brought back to Europe to complete the triangle. “For weeks, months, sometimes as long as a year, they waited in the dungeons of the slave factories scattered along Africa's western coast. They had already made the long, difficult journey from Africa's interior but just barely. Out of the roughly 20 million who were taken from their homes and sold into slavery, half didn't complete the journey to the African coast, most of those dying along the way” (T.M.P. 1) The Middle Passage was used by many ships carrying slaves to the Americas. African slaves were brought to the New World unwillingly. They were either purchased or kidnapped. The Middle Passage took about ninety days. However, at times it would take roughly a few months to transport Africans. None of them knew of the horrible journey they were about to encounter. “The system by which these human beings were been transported across the ocean was reported to be the worst of its kind in the history of mankind” (Adeuyan 40). The conditions aboard the ships crossing the Atlantic were horrible. Hundreds of slaves were packed below the deck of the ships. Slaves had to go to the bathroom...
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...little history regarding slavery and slave trade despite the fact that slaves were African Americans who not only worked for free but were treated terribly, many individuals lack the knowledge of how slavery was originated and greatly impacted regions of the world. The Triangular trade was a trading method established by the Europeans hundreds of years ago. It’s referred to as the Triangular Trade because it consists of trade with Africa, America, and Europe creating a triangular route of trade. This system was developed to fulfill the needs of each country and to become industrialized. The Triangular Trade caused extreme complication and effected Africa in numerous ways. On the first leg of the trip European merchants went to Africa to trade their household goods in return for a desired number of slaves, Then shipped the slaves to America on what was known was the Middle Passage where they were sold for cash and bought tobacco, rum, sugar and cotton back to Europe where these products were sold for outstanding profits. This trading method was very successful because African Americans already practiced slavery in Africa and America was in high demand for laborers to work the sugar cane plantations and make profit trading the finished product to Europe. “The Middle Passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of people from Africa were shipped to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade” (Middle Passage,Wikipedia). This was often...
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...The Plantation Sugar – The New Age The sole cash crop that crushed the exportation of cotton and tobacco and reigned in the Caribbean for the next two hundred (200) years was sugar. Dutch colonists in Brazil were the 1st to grow sugar extensively. They then taught the English, in Barbados, ways of cultivation and manufacture in 1644 and soon “sugar was king”. By 1650, Barbados was the primary sugar-producer and was known as “the brightest jewel in the crown of King Charles II”. Other French colonies soon followed Barbados. The Sugar Revolution Definition Sugar Revolution – drastic change from producing a variety of crops to sugar cane ONLY. Implications of the Sugar Revolution/ Changes brought about by the Sugar Revolution: a) New Methods of producing sugar – The English and French began inventing new and better ways of processing sugar cane. b) The Labour Force – Planting and processing sugar cane required extensive labour force. The planters wanted work to be done using the cheapest labour force, which in the end, would mean greater profits for them when the sugar was sold. Thus, an increasing number of African slaves were used. c) Increase in the price of Land: Great sugar plantations developed by buying the small plots of land that were used to cultivate tobacco. As sugar became more profitable, the demand for land increased, which caused the price of land to increase. d) Change in governance – As the English French and Dutch colonies...
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...The Middle Passage was the triangular slave trade route between 1450 and 1860. It was called the triangular trade because he trade was between three countries. First, commercial goods were shipped to Africa for and traded for African slaves. The slaves were then brought to the Americas in exchange for raw materials. Finally the materials were brought back to Europe to complete the triangle. “For weeks, months, sometimes as long as a year, they waited in the dungeons of the slave factories scattered along Africa's western coast. They had already made the long, difficult journey from Africa's interior but just barely. Out of the roughly 20 million who were taken from their homes and sold into slavery, half didn't complete the journey to the African coast, most of those dying along the way” (T.M.P. 1) The Middle Passage was used by many ships carrying slaves to the Americas. African slaves were brought to the New World unwillingly. They were either purchased or kidnapped. The Middle Passage took about ninety days. However, at times it would take roughly a few months to transport Africans. None of them knew of the horrible journey they were about to encounter. “The system by which these human beings were been transported across the ocean was reported to be the worst of its kind in the history of mankind” (Adeuyan 40). The conditions aboard the ships crossing the Atlantic were horrible. Hundreds of slaves were packed below the deck of the ships. Slaves had to go to the bathroom...
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...The Age of Exploration took place from the 15th through 17th century. European explorers combined the Old and New Worlds through the Age of Exploration. The causes of the Age of Exploration resulted in the colonization of the New World. Religion, leadership, and money also known as God, Glory, and Gold were the causes of the Age of Exploration. Even though the Age of Exploration appears to have a good connotation it had some negative effects. The positive effects of the Age of Exploration had to do with people taking action. During the Age of Exploration there were many negative effects such as disease, slavery, and war, however, there were also many positive ones that still have an effect on the world today. The Age of Exploration was a very...
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...Dear Journal, I would like to share my experience as a slave on a slave ship during the Middle Passage. Things were very harsh and just the thought of it makes me shiver. On the ship, we were kept chained to platforms in the hold below the deck. It was a nasty, stinky place, not even fit for a pet. The food and water were barely enough to keep us alive. Also the burning heat and toxic fumes caused some slaves to die due to the horrible conditions. Most salves have never seen such light skin which made them think that they will be cooked and eaten. So out of fear, slaves jumped overboard to be free but white men always seem to catch them in rowboats. Some slaves would force themselves to starve to death to end their misery, but their plans always failed and led to being punished by whipping and burning their lips with hot coals. I wanted to rebel but there was no way out and I had to accept my destiny. How could any man treat a human being with such inhumanity, humiliation, brutality and cruelty? During that period I was filled with dread, fear, shock and despair because it is far beyond words to explain the damage that has been done to us. I was disgusted with my life. Every night you can hear the slaves moaning and crying out of pain and suffer. Who gave white men the right to judge us by our dark skin? Never in my life, I had seen or heard of such cruel treatment of captives. Till this day these things haunt me day and night but I’m learning to live with it. My prayers...
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...Paper Assignment Two Humanities 240D Mr. Wilson March 27, 2012 From the earliest of times, many countries explored lands that could help them develop and expand over time. Members from the countries in the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries had traveled to the extent that trade routes were established and it opened up the eyes of each country and their opportunities. European nations would travel to the Americas and Africa hoping to gain land and other resources, while the Americas and Africa hoped to gain resources they could use for their own gain. Resources such as plants, foods, and animals are native to different lands around the world; over time, as cultures came into contact, it was inevitable for global interactions between Europe, the Americas, and Africa to arise. Without these cultures coming into contact, the expansion of each of these countries developments would not have happened. Between the 1400’s and 1800’s, European mariners had a series of expensive voyages that took them to all the earth’s waters. These voyages helped them discover the world’s geography, but helped them gain something much more. European merchants established a network of communication, transportation, and interaction. The reason behind establishing these networks was to search for basic resources and lands to grow cash crops, establish trade routes, and to expand the influence of Christianity. One European voyage that took place was by Amerigo Vespucci. He traveled to the coast...
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...effected the outcome of slavery in 1800s. These events all lead to one another and forever changed the face of slavery in the United States. Thomas Jefferson’s “diffusion theory” was the first of this series of events. Jefferson believed that selling “surplus” slaves from the east and moving them westward would help to put an end to slavery. By the end of the revolution, it was becoming apparent that two distinct regions were forming. One of these regions was enslaved and the other was gradually becoming free. Transatlantic slave trade had been ended and tobacco lands in the Chesapeake were exhausted and needed less labor. Jefferson thought that slavery was a “necessary evil” and that slave owning was beneficent, yet he also believed that slavery could be ended. Eli Whitney quickly destroyed this “diffusion theory” dream of Jefferson’s with his invention of the cotton gin. This invention of the cotton gin completely turned the economy around and was a game changer for wealth and labor. Cotton...
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...America before the late eighteenth century. The South Atlantic economic system centered on making goods and clothing to sell in Europe and increasing the numbers of African slaves brought to the New World. This was crucial to those European countries which, in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, were vying with each other to create overseas empires. The evolution of slavery is crucial to understanding the importance of currently standing issues. Slavery began in 1440 when Portugal started to trade slaves with West Africa. The first Africans imported to the English colonies were also called “indentured servants” or “apprentices for life”. By the middle of the sixteenth century, they and their offspring were legally the property of their owners. As property, they were merchandise or units of labor, and were sold at markets with other goods and services. By the 17th century, Western Europeans developed an organized system of trading slaves. However, the slave trade did not run as smoothly as expected. Slaves were revolting and tried to flee the hardships of labor. Regardless of these attempts slavery expanded, leading to the "Triangle Trade." This trade, between Europe, Africa and the Americas, is held responsible for the dispersal of Africans in the Western hemisphere. This organized system lasted until the 1800's. Shortly after...
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...The Autobiography of Olaudah Equiano is a woeful recount of an African boy who was kidnapped into slavery. However, with the story of Olaudah Equiano comes a question. Was Equiano an African who merely wanted to share his life’s story or was he born in South Carolina and wrote this as a calculated attempt to “increase the odium against the West India planters?” as Vincent Carretta states. If the first presumption is correct, then all is well and the story can be revered as a highly respected expositional work of history. Although, if the second is correct, then this calls into question Equiano’s right to play the victim in representing the slaves who suffered through the Middle Passage. The answer to this highly debated question lies in the accuracy of his details, the historical validity of his stories, and the fact that pro-slavery writers are the source of the original doubt. In his autobiography, Olaudah Equiano describes his experience of the Middle Passage with many details. For example, one of the most notable details he notes of the slave ship was the horrible stench that reeked from the lower deck. Equiano writes, “I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a...
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...October 9, 2014 HIS 2111, Instructor Wells Short Paper Assignment Slavery in British America This paper is about slavery in British America over time. I am going to talk about how slavery evolved, differences across regions and across all colonies, and factors that contributed to hardening of the line between slavery and freedom. Slavery was used by all great powers at that time (England, France, Spain, Netherland, Portugal…). In this big region of both Americas and West Indies, slavery was something as common as freedom is common today. Basically from Canada to Brazil there was some kind of slavery. Most of the slaves were imported from Africa especially in British mainland colonies, but there were a lot of Indian slaves as well in West Indies. Slavery was different between the regions in New World. For example slavery in Barbados was different as in New England, in Barbados there was plantation based slavery but in New England there were only few slaves that helped their masters with some minor work at their houses. Even between British mainland colonies there was difference in slave societies. First British mainland colonies did not heavily relay on slaves, because they had a big migration from Europe. People came from all over Europe, most of them came as indentured servants. For free passage over Atlantic they gave their rights to people that paid for their voyage. They obligated that they will work for free, some amount of time, for free trip and free land after...
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...Beloved Research Paper Prompt #5 Final Infanticide, neglect, rape, starvation, and loss are all terms describing what the institution of slavery may result in. These same words, however, can very easily fit to summarize Toni Morrison’s Beloved, a story that not only captures the overall theme of slavery, but also delves into a deeper understanding of what these hardships entail. Within it’s controversial pages, Toni Morrison’s Beloved properly and accurately portrays slavery’s brutality and harsh conditions. It is true that the Middle Passage was the largest migration of any group of persons, but no historian could completely grasp what trials and tribulations that this event encompasses. In Beloved, Morrison demonstrates just one of the many cruelties during the long journey across the Atlantic. Sethe recalls the sexual violence her mother encountered while being brought from Africa and the trauma brought about by such. Both Sethe’s mother and Nan were “taken up many times by the crew” (Morrison 66). During the travel to the New World, women were within a closer proximity to the deck and thus, closer to the white men on board. These black women on board were “prey to captains and crew members who would often rape them”, along with other forms of violence to keep order (Rice 9). Sethe’s mother was so affected by the traumatic experience that she murdered her children that were conceived from the white men raping her. This idea of sexual violence is not an exaggeration...
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