Slavery in the Americas

1. Slavery in the Americas Honors World History Dubbs

2. #1a

3. Total Slaves Transported by Trading Country #1b

4. Map of the African Coast with Key Slave Embarkation Regions #2a

5. Number of Slave Embarkations by Region #2b

6. #3a

7. Slave Disembarkation by Region #3b

8. The Slave Deck of the Bark “Wildfire” The importation of slaves had been prohibited in the United States since [1808], and yet, the trade continued illegally on a smaller scale for many years -- even up to the outbreak of the Civil War. Published in the June 2, 1860 issue of Harper's Weekly, The Slave Deck of the Bark "Wildfire" illustrated how Africans travelled on the upper deck of the ship. On board the ship were 510 captives, recently acquired from an area of Africa near the Congo River. The author of the article reported seeing, upon boarding the ship, "about four hundred and fifty native Africans, in a state of entire nudity, in a sitting or squatting posture, the most of them having their knees elevated so as to form a resting place for their heads and arms." By slave ship standards, not many had died en route -- about 90 of the original 600. But the ship was not filled to capacity -- it could hold 1,000 slaves -- and the Africans were well-fed. The ship was captured by an American steamer and brought to port at Key West. The captured Africans would soon be freed. #4

9. Slave Caravans on the Road In 1888, Harpers requested that Henry M. Stanley's Through a Dark Continent be adapted for young readers. On Stanley's recommendation, Thomas Wallace Knox was selected to write the book, which would be entitled, The Boy Travellers on the Congo. The illustrations used in Knox's book came from several volumes on African travels, including the book it was based on. Slave Caravans on the Road accompanies text describing Arab involvement with the slave trade and the town of Mombasa, a port on Africa's east coast. The book tells how Arabs made war with natives and enslaved captives, as well as inciting war between various tribes in order to purchase, as slaves, the prisoners of those wars. #5

10. Plan of a ship for transporting slaves 1789 Only two images were ever officially sponsored by England's Abolitionist Society. One was the Society's emblem. The other was this plan of the Liverpool slave ship, the Brookes. Below the plan was a detailed description of the Brookes and information about the ship's trading history. Copies of the plan were distributed widely, including to members of England's Parliament. The illustration showed 482 men, women, and children tightly packed into the Brooke's hold. The accompanying description stated that, according to records, as many as 609 slaves had been transported within the same space on the same ship. #6

11. Slave with an Iron Muzzle When persons being held as slaves were accused by their masters of insubordination, or of eating more than their allotment of food, they might expect to be fitted with an iron muzzle. In his autobiography, OlaudahEquiano described his first encounter with such a device in the mid-1700s. . . "I had seen a black woman slave as I came through the house, who was cooking the dinner, and the poor creature was cruelly loaded with various kinds of iron machines; she had one particularly on her head, which locked her mouth so fast that she could scarcely speak, and could not eat or drink. I [was] much astonished and shocked at this contrivance, which I afterwards learned was called the iron muzzle." Slave with Iron Muzzle is an illustration from the 1839 publication, Souvenirs d'un aveugle, by Jacques Etienne Victor Arago. #7

12. Living Africans Thrown Overboard #8a

13. Heading for Jamaica in 1781, the ship Zong was nearing the end of its voyage. It had been twelve weeks since it had sailed from the west African coast with its cargo of 417 slaves. Water was running out. Then, compounding the problem, there was an outbreak of disease. The ship's captain, reasoning that the slaves were going to die anyway, made a decision. In order to reduce the owner's losses he would throw overboard the slaves thought to be too sick to recover. The voyage was insured, but the insurance would not pay for sick slaves or even those killed by illness. However, it would cover slaves lost through drowning. The captain gave the order; 54 Africans were chained together, then thrown overboard. Another 78 were drowned over the next two days. By the time the ship had reached the Caribbean,132 persons had been murdered. When the ship returned to England the owners made their claim -- they wished to be compensated the full value for each slave lost. The claim might have been honored had if it had not been for former slave Equiano, then living in England, who learned of the tragedy and alerted an abolitionist friend of his. The case went to court. At first the jury ruled in favor of the ship's owners. Since it was permissible to kill animals for the safety of the ship, they decided, it was permissible to kill slaves for the same reason. The insurance company appealed, and the case was retried. This time the court decided that the Africans on board the ship were people. It was a landmark decision. On another voyage, on another ship, a similar incident occurred. On La Rodeur in 1812, there was an outbreak of ophthalmia, a disease that causes temporary blindness. Both slaves and crew were afflicted. The captain, fearing that the blindness was permanent and knowing that blind slaves would be difficult if not impossible to sell, sent 39 slaves over the rails to their watery death. As with the captain of the Zong, he hoped that the insurance would cover the loss. #8b