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Examine the realities of the middle passage
The second middle passage
Examine the realities of the middle passage
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Introduction
In accordance to African American writer Margaret Walker’s quote that talks about African Americans still having their African past intact despite slavery and racism, immigration indeed affected cultural ways. The interconnection of the trans-Atlantic world brought about the rise of new cultures, music and expressions that were to be held by future generations, which is now the population of African American people. This paper will research on the middle passage and the early American slavery and how African tried to resist.
Middle passage and Early American Slavery
During the 1860s, the African Americans were forced to migrate across the Atlantic. The reason behind this was slavery, and it lasted between middle of the sixteenth century until 1980, making it the largest movement across the Atlantic before the 19th century (Lovejoy, 2002, pg. 141). The origin of the name ‘Middle Passage’ came about the crossing from Africa to America, and it acquired the name since it was the central point of the trade routes taken by many of the ships. This passage took imprisoned Africans from their motherland. The economies of the colonies in America such as the Carribean and Latin America were making development progress.
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Majority of the slaves originated from West and Central Africa, mostly Nigeria, Angola, Ghana and the coast of Sierra Leone. Due to this movement, most of the characteristics of African Culture such as their beliefs, music, and traditions, which were moved to America resulted in cultural incorporation. Auctioning of the Africans marked the start of the middle passage. The europeans carried a cargo that contained iron, gunpowder, fabric, and guns, which were exchanged for africans when they landed. After loading their cargo, the Americans embarked on their journey and traded the slaves for other
Chapter six of “Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora” is entitled “Asserting the Right to Be”. This chapter explores the rebellion of enslaved Africans and their descendants. It stresses that fact resistance against slavery and oppression have been present from the very beginning of the slavery and it has grown and evolved over time. One point in particular that the chapter discusses is the rise in the number of slave revolts in the early 1500’s. Another important topic that is discussed is the fact that people of African descent not only had to fight against slavery but they also had to fight the concept that an african ancestry was a mark of inferiority.
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.
Middle Passage -- refers to the forced transportation of African people from Africa to the New World as part of the Atlantic slave trade[1] and was the middle portion of the triangular trade voyage. Ships left Europe for African markets, where their goods were sold or traded for prisoners and kidnapped victims on the African coast. Traders then sailed to the Americas and Caribbean, where the Africans were sold or traded for goods for European markets, which were then returned to Europe. The European powers Spain, Portugal, France, England, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Brandenburg, as well as traders from Brazil and North America, all took part in this trade.
An estimated 8 to 15 million Africans reached the Americas between the 16th and 19th century. Only the youngest and healthiest slaves were taken for what was called the middle passage of the triangle trade, partly because they would be worth more in the Americas, and they were also the most likely to reach their destination alive. Conditions aboard the ship were very gruesome; slaves were chained to one anoth...
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.
In the “Interpretive Essay”, Kenneth Banks discuses the consequences of the Atlantic slave trade. The negative effects on the Africans due to the Atlantic slave trade range from the influence on Africans societies and warfare, inhumane and atrocious living and working conditions, decrease of their population, and the long-term impact of bigotry. During the Atlantic save trade’s peak, the movement to abolish slavery started because it went against certain religious beliefs, several thinkers saw it as inefficient, and was unethical.
Assignment # 1 Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano History shows that both Africans and African Americans alike faced unique problems prior to and during the 1800's, particularly prior to 1865. One such problem is the issue of the Diaspora and how culture and slavery has affected the choice of religion. It is the purpose of this paper to expose comparatively the extent to which individuals have been influenced by these issues. One such individual is Olaudah Equiano.
There is no other experience in history where innocent African Americans encountered such a brutal torment. This infamous ordeal is called the Middle Passage or the “middle leg” of the Triangular Trade, which was the forceful voyage of African Americans from Africa to the New World. The Africans were taken from their homeland, boarded onto the dreadful ships, and scattered into the New World as slaves. 10- 16 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic during the 1500’s to the 1900’s and 10- 15 percent of them died during the voyage. Millions of men, women, and children left behind their personal possessions and loved ones that will never be seen again. Not only were the Africans limited to freedom, but also lost their identity in the process. Kidnapped from their lives that throbbed with numerous possibilities of greatness were now out of sight and thrown into the never-ending pile of waste. The loathsome and inhuman circumstances that the Africans had to face truly describe the great wrongdoing of the Middle Passage.
Slave’s masters consistently tried to erase African culture from their slave’s memories. They insisted that slavery had rescued blacks form the barbarians from Africa and introduced them to the “superior” white civilization. Some slaves came to believe this propaganda, but the continued influence of African culture in the slave community added slave resistance to the modification of African culture. Some slaves, for example, answered to English name in the fields but use African names in their quarters. The slave’s lives were filled with surviving traits of African culture, and their artwork, music, and other differences reflected this influence.
On the second leg of this trade slaves were transported to the West Indies, this leg was called the middle passage. This part was horrible for the slaves. About 50% of all the slaves on one ship would not make it to the West Indies because of disease or brutal mistreatment. Hundreds of men, woman and children were cramped together for most of the journey, occasionally able move an almost decent amount.
From Slavery to Freedom: African in the Americas. (2007). Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Retrieved October 7, 2007 from Web site: http://www.asalh.org/
First of all it is important to examine how many African slaves were brought to the New World. The Middle Passage is infamous route of the ships that carried slaves to the Americas. After the arrival to the New World, the slaves were sold or exchanged for the valuable goods. The term Middle Passage might sound somewhat romantic, but in reality it stands as a one of the most terrible events in history. The Middle Passage is the passage of bonded slaves from West Africa to the Americas. In the beginning, there was a trade between Europeans and African leaders who sold their enemies and disabled people in exchange for unique gifts such as guns, tobacco, iron bars and etc. But at the later stages of slavery, Europeans often kidnapped Africans at the costal area of Western Africa and then sent to ships that sailed them to the New World where this new free work force was needed to help stabilize the new nation.
The Middle Passage (or Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade) was a voyage that took slaves from Africa to the Americas via tightly packed ships. The trade started around the early 1500s, and by 1654 about 8,000-10,000 slaves were being imported from Africa to the Americas every year. This number continued to grow, and by 1750 that figure had climbed to about 60,000-70,000 slaves a year. Because of the lack of necessary documents, it is hard to tell the exact number of Africans taken from their homeland. But based on available clues and data, an estimated 9-15 million were taken on the Middle Passage, and of that about 3-5 million died. While the whole idea seems sick and wrong, many intelligent people and ideas went in to making the slave trade economically successful.
"Africa Before Transatlantic Slavery: The Abolition of Slavery Project." Africa Before Transatlantic Slavery: The Abolition of Slavery Project. E2BN, 2009. Web. 08 Apr. 2014. .
Africans did not willingly come to the United States, but in the slave ships which brought them, they brought food not indigenous to America, grew it, and assimilated it into everyday foods of the people that owned them. Today most Americans take this food for granted, without knowing its origin. The transatlantic slave trade brought rice, okra, black-eyed peas, and kidney and lima beans to the shores of America very early in its history. Also sorghum, millet, watermelon, yams and sesame; found their way into America and became part of the ingredients found in the early cook books written by Americans in the Deep South. To better understand the foods which arrived from Africa, knowing the slaves and slave traders that brought them is important. “It is believed that the first African slaves were imported to the New World at the beginning of the 17th century and that the first slaves came from Senegambia and the Windward Coast. Senegambia was a loosely defined region of West Africa that comprises the present-day nations of Senegal and The Gambia. Windward Coast is roughly the current country of Ivory