Jump!

captured Africans, Middle Passage, slavery, transatlantic slave trade

Click to Listen to “First Time I Saw Big Water” produced and composed by Bernice Johnson Reagon, performed by Bernice Johnson Reagon and Toshi Reagon for the PBS-WGBH film score for series Africans in America, Executive Producer Orlando Bagwell Shackled and forced from the interior, the bush, often marching for weeks and months African captives destined for the transatlantic slave trade endured hardships beyond our imagination. Many had never seen Read More

Personal Stories of Captured Africans

African ethnic groups, Afro-Latinos, captured Africans, Middle Passage, oral history, transatlantic slave trade

In a previous post, The Descendant Community, November 16, 2011 the role of oral history in formal scholarship was acknowledged. Frequently first hand accounts and family stories make an event or experience not only more powerful, but also personal in a manner that research text does not. This project is dedicated to remembering ancestors, uncovering and listening to people who usually are forgotten. They seldom have the opportunity to tell Read More

Captured African Women

captured Africans, enslaved women, Middle Passage, slave ships

In 2012, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) will focus attention on the role of women in African American history. With a scheduled conference in the fall, a call for papers has gone forth to scholars. We are especially looking forward to presentations related to the Middle Passage. The role of African women in resisting enslavement and enabling emancipation leaves little doubt that their Read More

Where Did They Go? The African Diaspora

African Diaspora, Middle Passage, slave ports

The African Diaspora that resulted from the transatlantic slave trade is referenced frequently in our blog posts. Our particular project relates to the two to six million Africans who did not survive the ocean voyage, and placing markers in their honor at primary Middle Passage ports where Africans arrived. The widespread dispersal of these captured people is illustrated as we survey the history of specific regions: North America, Central America, Read More

Music and Song

African American music, African Diaspora, Middle Passage

A vital life force in Africa and throughout the Diaspora is music. Historian Marcus Redeker in his work, The Slave Ship: A Human History, states that music was a primary means of communication and support among captives during the Middle Passage. The cultural fact of musical expression throughout the history of Africans in the Western Hemisphere has served to ground, sustain, and strengthen a strong sense of identity and community. Read More

Slave Ships as Prisons

African American History, Middle Passage, slave ships, transatlantic slave trade

Several historians and researchers who specialize in the Middle Passage and the Atlantic slave trade have described the slave ships as floating prisons. The previous blogs have described who the captive Africans were by possible ethnic group, region, age, gender, health and skill level. The impact of their removal upon the community was addressed in a limited manner.  Conditions and treatment on the ship has not  been adequately or fully Read More

Source Documents for Visitors to the Blog

African American History, Middle Passage, slave ships, slavery, transatlantic slave trade

Occasionally this blog will provide books, materials and films related to the Middle Passage or the transatlantic slave trade which we have found useful in researching. Books and Texts:  A Mercy by Toni Morrison (2008) This tale challenges the notion of any possibility for humanity, freedom and justice to exist when exercised within a system of enslavement. Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade by David Eltis and David Richardson (2010) Many years in production, Read More

Random Acts of Kindness

Middle Passage, slave ships, slavery, transatlantic slave trade

We all have seen the car bumper sticker encouraging us to practice random acts of kindness. Digging deeper into the history of the Middle Passage and the transatlantic slave trade, I uncover numerous acts of humanity. One of the most startling examples involves the sailors of these ships. They had the most direct continuous contact with the captives often suffering and dying at the same rate, and for the same Read More

I Believe I Can Fly

Middle Passage, slave ships, slavery, transatlantic slave trade

“Free as a bird!” The imagery and association of flying and freedom are prevalent in African American culture. Two things routinely promised among Christian Africans when they got to heaven; wings and shoes. The folktale, “The People Could Fly” and Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon are strongly grounded in the theme of flying away, escaping, returning home. As the European slave ships headed towards the coast of Africa, sailors prepared for the Read More

The Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo by Tom Feelings (1995)

Middle Passage, slave ships, Tom Feelings, transatlantic slave trade

If you have not read and looked at this book, please take the opportunity to do so. If you have, it may be time to hold and read it again. Mr. Feelings portrays and explains these images that captured the experience of the transatlantic slave trade’s Middle Passage as no other artist has. He also tells the story of how he came to be involved and produced such a powerful Read More