After the indigenous people of the Caribbean were terminated by the Spaniards the Europeans needed to find an alternative work force to mine their sugar plantations. The African were seen as the ideal supply of labourers. In Africa, slavery was not a new concept as it was already practiced so because of this the European deemed the Africans suitable for labour on the sugar plantations in the Caribbean. The enslaved people, men and women and children, were taken from their country and exposed to greater degree of slavery than that which they were familiar with. Once captured – these people of dark skin colour – were chained and then journeyed on foot to the coast where the slave forts were located (fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Slave march
These expeditions to the slave forts on the coast, where slaves were stored until it was time for the voyage to the Caribbean, may sometimes take months. Slave castles as they were commonly called, were forts in which the enslaved people were kept within the dungeons until their journey to the Caribbean and Americas.
Fig. 2. Cape Coast Castle
If there were not sufficient slaves to transport or if the ships were on other voyages the wait period at the slave castles were extended. Slavery for these people, men, women and child, were a horrific experience. Yet the enslaved women experiences of enslavement were different in during the voyages, in the seasoning camps, auctions and on the plantations.
During the voyages men were stacked as inanimate objects, chained together and stacked closely on the bottom decks. This storage method made it difficult for the slaves when it came to excretion, and so they were forced to excrete right where they were stored. As a result many slaves suffocated ...
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The origin tale of the African American population in the American soil reveals a narrative of a diasporic faction that endeavored brutal sufferings to attain fundamental human rights. Captured and forcefully transported in unbearable conditions over the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, a staggering number of Africans were destined to barbaric slavery as a result of the increasing demand of labor in Brazil and the Caribbean. African slaves endured abominable conditions, merged various cultures to construct a blended society that pillared them through the physical and psychological hardships, and hungered for their freedom and recognition.
Ever since there has been humanity, slavery has been a mechanism used by people in order to subjugate and dehumanize other individuals. Abina and the Important Men is a book that illustrates how slavery was still able to manifest, even after it had been abolished within British society. By enslaving young women under the false pretense that the individuals were wards, powerful African leaders and British rulers were able to maintain a social hierarchy where African women occupied the lowest rung. The trafficking of Africans through the Transatlantic Slave Trade, brought wealth to European and other western nations as well as African leaders who were willing to cooperate. Europeans, such as the Portuguese, British, and French, first began arriving to Africa in the 16th century since they were drawn by the valuable resources that could be found in coastal, African societies.
In Africans In America Terrible Transformation written by PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) writes an article stating the historical background of African Americans that were captured and enslaved from Western Africa from 1450-1750. About 200,000 Africans were transported to Europe Islands in the Atlantic. But after Columbus excursion, Slave traders found a new market for slaves: New World plantations. From this, they were used for the planting crops for the Europeans that were uneducated how farm such as, rice, cotton, tobacco, and sugar in the south. It wasn’t till the American Revolution where they protest against “enslavement” from the British and demands from American “liberty” for some hope of being free from bondage . After reading
One of the major questions asked about the slave trade is ‘how could so Europeans enslave so many millions of Africans?” Many documents exist and show historians what the slave trade was like. We use these stories to piece together what it must have been to be a slave or a slaver. John Barbot told the story of the slave trade from the perspective of a slaver in his “A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea.” Barbot describes the life of African slaves before they entered the slave trade.
Slavery is a term that can create a whirlwind of emotions for everyone. During the hardships faced by the African Americans, hundreds of accounts were documented. Harriet Jacobs, Charles Ball and Kate Drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery. There were reoccurring themes throughout the books as well as varying angles that each author either left out or never experienced. Taking two women’s views as well as a man’s, we can begin to delve deeper into what their everyday lives would have been like.
Slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries consisted of brutal and completely unjust treatment of African-Americans. Africans were pulled from their families and forced to work for cruel masters under horrendous conditions, oceans away from their homes. While it cannot be denied that slavery everywhere was horrible, the conditions varied greatly and some slaves lived a much more tolerable life than others. Examples of these life styles are vividly depicted in the personal narratives of Olaudah Equiano and Mary Prince. The diversity of slave treatment and conditions was dependent on many different factors that affected a slave’s future. Mary Prince and Olaudah Equiano both faced similar challenges, but their conditions and life styles
African slaves were brought to the America’s by the millions in the 17th and 18th century. The Spanish and British established lucrative slave trades within Africa and populated their new territories with captured and then enslaved Africans. The British brought the slaves to their new colonies in North America to work on the large plantations and the Spanish and Portuguese brought the slaves to South America. Slavery within North and South America had many commonalities yet at the same time differences between the two institutions.
Slaves were then transported to the Americas on a journey called the middle passage which lasted about six weeks. These ships were very unsanitary and cramped often carrying three hundred slaves. Once onboard the ship, men and women were stripped naked and shackled two-by-two. They could either be packed loosely or tight. Either way the ship had terrible hygiene, often nowhere to go to the bathroom. Also the slaves were hardly given any food, so many of the slaves went hungry. These factors contributed to many suicide attempts while onboard.
conditions aboard ship were dreadful. The maximum number of slaves was jammed into the hull, chained to forestall revolts or suicides by drowning. Food, ventilation, light, and sanitatio...
The practice of slavery for men and women both presented equally sufferings. However, the white planation owners or overseers routinely raped women during this time. Women regularly had their children stripped away from them and sold into slavery. However, ironica...
The typical life of an indentured servant was not a convenient one. Their journeys to the Americas were miserable. The servants were packed into large ships carrying thousands of people as well as, tools, food, etc. Not only were the people densely packed, there were various diseases flooding the ships, and many people would die from them. “I witnessed . . .
“In the Caribbean and in many slave societies in the Americas, one of the most important aspects of resistance to slavery was the retention of African culture or melding African, American and European cultural forms to create new ones such as the Kweyol languages (Antillean Creole).” (“Resistance and Rebellion”) Despite the forcing of European culture on slaves, most of if not all of the of African culture of colonial slaves has been preserved and passed on through the generations. “The importance of African culture – names, craftsmanship, languages, scientific knowledge, beliefs, philosophy, music and dance, was that it provided the psychological support to help the captives resist the process of enslavement. The act of enslavement involved attempts to break the will and ignore the humanity of slaves in what was known as ‘seasoning’. (“Resistance and
All were subject to harsh circumstances and the relentless fears of shipwreck and disease outbreaks. It took as long as five to twelve weeks, depending on the weather circumstances and point of departure. The captain and the crew workers treated the slaves like wild animals, giving them barely enough food to survive and leaving them to suffer with lice, fleas, and rats, which led to many diseases (“Middle Passage”). The records stated that about two –thirds of the fatalities were caused by malaria, yellow fever, and intestinal disorders (Postma 25). The enslaved Africans were linked with heavy iron chains around their hands and feet with barely enough room to lie down (Howarth). Constant odors of urine, vomit...
On some day, the slaves were made to do jumping exercise and to entertain the crew of the slavers, which was their only time the slaves got opportunity to get fresh air and to do some kind of movements. Some slaves use this opportunity to escape by jumping overboard, for this reason nets were placed to cover over top deck and the sailors was also armed with guns. Also the woman was brought on board to get raped at
In conclusion, women were considered property and slave holders treated them as they pleased. We come to understand that there was no law that gave protection to female slaves. Harriet Jacob’s narrative shows the true face of how slaveholders treated young female slave. The female slaves were sexually exploited which damaged them physically and psychologically. Furthermore it details how the slave holder violated the most sacred commandment of nature by corrupting the self respect and virtue of the female slave. Harriet Jacob writes this narrative not to ask for pity or to be sympathized but rather to show the white people to be aware of how female slaves constantly faced sexual exploitation which damaged their body and soul.