The Transatlantic Slave Trade
1.What does this map show us about the transatlantic slave trade?
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2. Where in Africa were most enslaved people being taken from?
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3. Where in the Americas are most people taken to as slaves?
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4. How many people were brought to South America as slaves?
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5. How many people were brought to English Colonies in North America as slaves?
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1. What does the word embarked mean?
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2. Without looking it up, what can you infer disembarked might mean?
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3. Roughly, what are the number of slaves who embarked and disembarked in 1700?
Embarked: ______________________________________
Disembarked: ___________________________________
4. What do you think might account for the difference between total number of slaves embarked and total number of
slaves disembarked?
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5. What do you think might be the cause for the large drop in embarked and disembarked slaves after 1850?
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Enslavement in Africa
Olaudah Equiano
Olaudah Equiano was an abolitionist and
former slave from from Igbo territory in what is now
southeast Nigeria. He was born around 1745, and
around the age of 11 he was sold to slave traders and
forcibly taken to the Americas. He purchased his own
freedom in 1766 and lived in England, where he
wrote his autobiography: The Interesting Narrative of
the Life of Olaudah Equiano. The book describes in
detail the forced journey he took from Africa to the
Americas in what is known as “The Middle Passage.”
(The map on the first page illustrates this slave
voyage.) After the Revolutionary War in America,
Equiano helped former slaves who were freed by the
British settle in London.
The painting on the left is often used as a
depiction of Equiano, although its accuracy is
disputed. Some historians believe the painting may be
of another former slave, Charles Ignatius Sancho.
Why might it be difficult for historians to verify who
is the subject of a painting?
“One day, when all our people were gone out to their works as usual, and only I and my
dear sister were left to mind the house, two men and a woman got over our walls, and in
a moment seized us both; and, without giving us time to cry out, or make resistance,
they stopped our mouths, tied our hands, and ran off with us into the nearest wood and
continued to carry us as far as they could till night came on…”
“The next day proved a day of greater sorrow than I had yet experienced; for my sister
and I were then separated, while we lay clasped in each other’s arms. It was in vain that
we besought them not to part us: she was torn from me, and immediately carried away,
while I was left in a state of distraction not to be described. I cried and grieved
continually; and for several days I did not eat anything but what they forced into my
mouth.”
1. What is Equiano describing in this passage of his autobiography?
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2. What do you think Equiano means when he says “they stopped our mouths”?
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3. What does the word “besought” mean?
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4. In what ways do we specifically see Equiano’s freedom and liberty taken from him?
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On The Ship
(The Middle Passage)
“One day…two of my wearied countrymen, who were Vocabulary Check!
chained together…preferring death to such a life of misery,
Define dejected:
somehow made through the nettings and jumped into the sea:
immediately another quite dejected fellow…also followed ________________________________
their example; and I believe many more would very soon have
done the same, if they had not been prevented by the ship!s Define wretches:
crew…Two of the wretches were drowned, but they got the
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other, and afterwards flogged him unmercifully, for thus
attempting to prefer death to slavery.”
-Olaudah Equiano
With crowding came lack of sanitation, and the
enslaved Africans found that none of the familiar
habits of personal hygiene could be observed. Thus,
illness was nearly impossible to avoid in that setting.
Exhausting, malnutrition, fear, and seasickness
resulted in depressed immune systems and increased
vulnerability to disease.
-Stephanie Smallwood, Saltwater Slavery (2007)
Cross section of a slave ship Vocabulary Check!
Drawing by Leon Renard, in L'art Naval (1881) Define malnutrition:
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1. Think back to the graph of embarkations and disembarkations. How does Equiano’s passage explain the
difference between the numbers of people embarking and disembarking on slave ships?
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2. What is Smallwood’s passage describing?
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3. How does the image of the Marie Séraphique relate to Equiano’s and Smallwood’s passages?
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4. What do the two images show us that the words of Equiano and Smallwood do not? What is being depicted in these
images?
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5. Which of these are primary sources? Secondary sources? Explain your choice.
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Graph of Disembarked Africans to the Americas
Total Number of Disembarked Africans
Yea
r
1. In what years were the total amount of disembarked Africans greater than 60,000?
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2. In what years were the total number of disembarked Africans less than approximately 30,000?
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3. What is the approximate difference between the number of disembarked Africans in 1775 and 1780?
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4. What is the approximate difference between the number of disembarked Africans in 1780 and 1785?
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5. What might account for the large discrepancy in embarked Africans around 1780?
Discrepancy: noun- a difference between
things that are expected to be the same.
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Slavery and Liberty in America
Under the law of nature, all men are born It is much to be wished that
free, every one comes into the world with a slavery may be abolished. The
right to his own person, which includes the honor of the States, as well as
liberty of moving and using it at his own will. justice and humanity, in my
This is what is called personal liberty, and is opinion, loudly call upon them to
given him by the author of nature… emancipate these unhappy
-Thomas Jefferson people. To contend for our own
liberty, and to deny that blessing
to others, involves an
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that inconsistency not to be excused.
all men are created equal, that they are - John Jay
endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
-The Declaration of Independence We have the wolf by the ear, and we can
(Written by Thomas Jefferson) neither hold him, nor safely let him go.
Justice is in one scale, and self-
preservation in the other.
Why stand we here idle? What is it that -Thomas Jefferson
gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is
life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be
purchased at the price of chains and slavery? There is not a man living who wishes more
Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what
sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted
course others may take; but as for me, give
for the abolition of it [Slavery].
me liberty or give me death! -George Washington
-Patrick Henry
These men are usually called “The Founding Fathers” of America. Many of them were slave owners,
despite talking about freedom, liberty, and equality. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of
Independence, owned over 600 slaves throughout his life. George Washington, the first president of the
United States, owned over 100 slaves at his home Mount Vernon. However, in his will he wrote that after his
death his slaves should be freed. This tension between slavery and the liberty led one English opponent of the
American Revolution, Samuel Johnson, to criticize the founding fathers by saying:
“How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?”
On a blank piece of paper, choose four quotes and rephrase them in your own words. After you are
done with that, write down your thoughts about the Founding Fathers and their views on slavery. Do their
actions match their words? Do you think they were being fair? Why do you think they said all men are created
equal, while also owning slaves? Does Samuel Johnson make a good point?
When you are done, answer the questions on the next page.
1. Thomas Jefferson’s quote about holding the wolf by the ear is a metaphor. What do you think his statement
might mean? Metaphor: noun - a figure of speech that is used
to make a comparison between two things that
aren't alike but do have something in common.
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2. The authors of these passages speak about liberty and freedom. Do any of them seem to be against slavery?
Why do you think so?
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3. Think back to Equiano and Smallwood’s description of life on the slave ship. How can you connect Patrick
Henry’s phrase “Give me liberty or give me death!” to the experience of the Middle Passage?
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4. Look at the quote from the Declaration of Independence. Thinking back to Equiano’s experience and the data of
embarkations and disembarkations of slaves, is it true that all men are created equal? In that time period, did
everyone have the right to life and liberty? Explain your answer.
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