The Slave Ship Marcus Rediker Summary

Marcus Rediker is the author of “The Slave Ship”. Marcus earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in History from Virginia Commonwealth University. He taught at Georgetown for 12 years and right now he is Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History at the University of Pittsburgh. Marcus has also written and co-written nine other books. He has been a part of creating other novels that are similar to the topic of “The Slave Ship”, so his degrees and experience with this makes him more than qualified to write on this subject.

The book takes place in the Atlantic Trading Triangle which was used to carry slaves and other goods across the Atlantic during the 1700 and 1808. Rediker uses first-hand accounts of the of the slaves that were passengers to illustrate

Rediker is able to depict vivid images of some of the events that had taken place on the slave ships. It’s hard to imagine the conditions the slaves were kept in throughout their transportation. It’s easy to pick up on Rediker’s central argument: The horrible acts committed against the slaves throughout the whole process is unjustified and unforgivable. Beatings were more than common for not only the slaves but the crew members of the ships as well. Some captains of the slave ships had their crew members whipped, beaten and sometimes even murdered for not following orders. One of the ways the captains put fear into the slaves were public beatings. Rediker even discusses a murder in front of the other slaves where the body was dismembered. Death on the ships had reached a point where sharks would just follow the ships and wait for bodies to thrown in the water to them.

Most slaves brought on board were strangers, but they all suffered the same torture. The slaves not only suffered from physical pain, but emotional and mental pain as well. For example, they were chained and shackled. Their spirits were crushed on multiple occasions and anytime they even thought about rebelling, they were tortured and that thought was beaten out of them. Some even refused to eat and those that did were beaten until they changed their

She attempted to run away on her journey toward the ship, but she was eventually caught. These kidnappings didn’t only happen to the slaves, often the crew members of the ships had also been kidnapped and forced on the journey similar to the slaves From the beginning to end, the ships had to go through many changes in order to accommodate all of the cargo. The first ships used suffered greatly in the African water because they were wooden. As time passed the ships were modified for the journeys. For example, copper was added to help fight against shipworms. Rediker mentions in the book the details of how the ship is built and he even includes the measurements of the wood used and the supplies needed. Shortly after explaining this, he mentions the beatings some of the crew had to take if they were to mess up any part of the ship. Along with the struggles the ships faced with Mother Nature, they faced many other problems along the way. One of the biggest problems was the disease. Disease was a problem for all of the people onboard, not just the slaves. Many men traveling to Africa often died before returning home because their bodies were accustomed to the atmosphere there. The poor conditions of the boat contributed to the disease spread amongst the people on the