Transatlantic Slavery: A Glimpse into Female and Child Exploitation

Source 1 (Primary): Female Slave and Child

Source 2 (Secondary): Case Study by Steven Mintz

A source created on the 12th of August in 1797 depicts an advertisement for the sale of a 22 year-old female slave, who has a nine month old child and is being offered at the purchaser’s option. The primary source was published by the ‘Rising Sun’ as a newspaper clipping. African Americans were objectified as shown by the description ‘A remarkable smart healthy Negro Wench’ and families were often separated by the buyer’s wish. A case study journal by Steven Mintz from Columbia University on ‘Childhood and Transatlantic Slavery’ informed that infant and child mortality rates were twice as high among slave children compared to southern white children

and were severely underweight (half of all slave infants weighed less than 5.5 pounds at birth). Historians concluded that approximately half of the U.S. slave children lived without their father, either he was working and residing on a different plantation, had been sold away or was white.

These death rates were usually due to chronic undernourishment and slaveowners showing no regard for pregnant women. Women bearing children were not provided with extra rations of food or better nutrition and were expected to continue working intensively in fields until the day they gave birth. Infants were fed gruel or porridge made of cornmeal and later potatoes, vegetables, molasses, grits, hominy and cornbread. Overall, their diets lacked vital nutrients and proteins which resulted in slave children suffering from swollen muscles, lesions, abdominal swellings and other health issues resulting from nutritional deficiencies. As a result, numerous slave mothers suffered high rates of stillbirths, deaths shortly after birth and deliberate abortions.

Source 3 (Primary): Print of chained African slaves in cargo hold of slave ship
Source 4 (Primary): Slave Ships and Slaving by George Francis Dow
Source 5 (Primary): The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself
Source 6 (Secondary): Retroactive 2 New South Wales Australian Curriculum History Stage 5
Source 7 (Primary): Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery by Ottobah Cugoano
Source 7 (Secondary): Roots 1977 Television Miniseries

Another primary source created in the 19th century is a black and white print that measures 4 centimetres by 8 centimetres. It shows the cramped conditions of chained African slaves in the slave ship cargo hold of a during the Middle Passage measuring 3 feet and 3 inches high. The slaves are engraved to depict how they are packed, could barely sit upright with their backs hunched, their heads constrained by the low roof and wrists tightly chained. A slave ship doctor was quoted writing ‘unable to proceed and prevented from getting to the tubs, they desist from the attempt; and as the necessities of nature are not to be resisted, they ease themselves as they lie. This became a fresh source of broils and disturbances’ which reflected the unhygienic experiences of slaves onboard.

Olaudah Equinao shared his experience as a former slave in his autobiography ‘The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano’ published in 1789.

He explained how he and his sister were kidnapped and brought away in a large sack. He described the ‘loathsomeness of the stench and crying together’ as he starved himself and was flogged severely. He recounted his journey from running away from his master after accidentally killing one of his chickens and later forgiven by his merciful master. He is later sold to a group of travellers and meets his sister before being eventually sold to a wealthy widow and her young son who treat him with more respect. He is later forced onto a slave ship again in the heat of the climate, watched others down themselves and he was flogged for attempting to commit suicide. Throughout his transportation, he viewed the westerners as cruel, greedy and bad spirits. In his later years, he witness clerks and other white men rape the African American women and being in no power to protect them. He later purchased his freedom for 70 pounds he saved from selling

items.

Retroactive 2 New South Wales Australian Curriculum History Stage 5 made known that the journey was violent, inhumane, captives were chained and separated according to gender.

The men were held captive, endured the sweltering heat, filthy conditions of the cargo hold and had barely enough space to sit upright. Women and children had slightly better conditions as they were positioned on deck under the watchful eyes of the crew. They were forced to dance when the weather permit or would be flogged by the cat-o’-nine-tails. Many tried to escape the terrible experience by throwing themselves overboard or starving themselves to death, to prevent this they crew kept a watchful eye on their movements on the decks.

Another primary source text by Ottobah Cugoano in ‘Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery’ described his experience as loud with the rattling of chains, whips, groans and cries of thousands of captives. He saw the slave traders as ‘barbarous robbers’, cruel and merciless. Upon arrival, their horrible experiences continued as they were ‘seasoned’ and prepared for an appealing sale and were treated like livestock. The captives were separated from their families, washed, shaved, oiled to appear healthy and enhance their muscular build in order to increase their sale

price.

They were chained and paraded to the slave-trading marketplaces, to be publicly examined for physical condition, defects and auctioned. Some were advertised in newspapers or posters with their gender, age, name, skills and price listed while others were sold in a ‘scramble’ where buyers grabbed and paid for the slave they chose. After being purchased, they given a new European name to strip their identity, force them to assimilate into the western society and pressure them into being subservient. This can be observed in Roots the 1977 television miniseries which follows Kunta Kinte’s enslavement to his descendant’s liberation. In a clip, Kunta Kinte was tied up and forced to accept the name Toby by a plantation owner from Spotsylvania County, Virginia. He rebels several times and is relentlessly whipped each time before he reluctantly accepts his new identity.