The Middle Passage

The Middle passage was the route across the Atlantic that slave ships followed between these two places

West Africa and the Americas

A witness who sailed on the ship “The Brooks” described slave being packed on board like…

Books on a shelf or a man in his coffin

Slaves were seen as this and not human beings

Goods

When the weather was good the voyage took between these amount of weeks

5 to 8 weeks

When the weather was bad the journey became…

Much longer

What was done to the slaves before each purchase

Slaves were stripped and subjected to a doctor’s examination. This was to identify those slaves who were already sick.

What slaves branded with

The owner’s mark

Where male slaves were kept on board slave ships

Below deck to prevent uprisings

Women and children were allowed here on board the slave ship

On deck

Men were chained in…

Pairs by ankle and wrist

Slaves were usually brought on deck to…

Exercise twice a day

What slaves often did while on deck to exercise

Dance while sailors played the drum, fiddle or bag pipes

When slaves were forced to sing they sang..

Songs of sorrow

Food consisted of…

Beans, palm oil and a small ration of water.

Those slaves who refused to eat were….

Brutally punished

Slaves who did not obey their master were…

Clubbed, whipped of simply thrown overboard.

Slaves contracted diseases such as…

Dysentery, scurvy, smallpox, measles and “fever”.

Many slaves died due to a disease called…

Melancholy caused by their experiences

Slaves sometimes developed….

Eye infections

Large amounts of slaves weakened, by the journey died while…

Awaiting sale in American ports