Slave Ships as Prisons

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

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

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

“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)

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

Human Wastage: The Price of Doing Business

In researching this project, I have started reading The Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker (2008). He argues that the African transatlantic slave trade was the first rung in the ladder of global capitalism, or what we know now as a global economy that all governments, many businesses and people are attempting to understand, modify or control. One sentence in the introduction struck a chord because it directly relates to Read More