The Middle Passage free essay sample

In the work of The Middle Passage, the authors, Daniel Manic and Malcolm Cooley, present what the middle passage was in as close to a firsthand account as they are able. Manic and Cooley define the middle passage as the base of the triangular course from Africa to the New World with black cargo (Wright). In their account of several voyages across the middle passage, the authors convey scenes that create vivid mental pictures that can cause stomachs to become uneasy. The slaves brought over on the SSH pips were tripped of everything: clothes, family, their homes, and, mostly importantly, their freedoms. What wasnt lost, however, was their culture, and those native African cultures still have an impact on us today. There is no arguing that the Africans brought over on slave ships to the New World were treated incredibly poorly. Slave traders typically did not clean the small, cramped quarters in which the hundreds of men were kept. We will write a custom essay sample on The Middle Passage or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They were feed twice a day, but the meals were often inadequate. They were chained two-by-two and crammed so tightly into the designated slave quarters that hey often had to sleep in Spoonbill fashion (Wright).On more accounts than one, a man would wake up and find that the man he was chained to had died in the night. Despite the harsh conditions, the slaves who made it to the New World still carried something with them: their spirit and their culture. Much of that spirit and culture is still very much alive today. Many of the stories you remember hearing as a child, such as Beer Rabbit, Beer Fox, and Chicken Little, all originated from Africa (Holloway). They were woven into American childhood by the enslaved women who would take care of the children on the large plantations.Other arts, like music and dances, were also introduced to America from the slaves. Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1 781 about the guitar and how it was an instrument proper to the slaves. The drums and the thumb piano are among other instruments of which are thought to have an African origin (Holloway). The biggest contribution the enslaved made to American culture is in agriculture. Many people are not aware that the ideas f open grazing cattle, cowboys, dairies, and artificial insemination of cows all stem from Africa (Holloway).Because the slave traders fed the slaves a diet in which they were somewhat partial to, many crops were brought directly from Africa as well. Okra, rice, and Black-eyed peas are just a few. For so long Africans were viewed as no more a person than the dirt they stood on, but the impact that they made here in America is one we almost cant imagine living without today. Though the middle passage was a gruesome journey for al involved, it arguably played a huge role in shaping our culture into what it is today. The Middle Passage free essay sample The introduction of international trade throughout the continent provided the Americas with goods once thought unattainable. Different trade routes began to stem from the original triangle route. All of these routes had one goal; to transport the goods in high demand in the most time and cost efficient way. The different branches were trading systems between the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Through these routes, captains traded goods and services such as slaves, sugar, tobacco, cotton, textiles, and many other manufactured goods. One history changing route was the Middle Passage.The course of this route was used to transport kidnapped Africans so they could be enslaved in the Americas. Within a three hundred year period, it is approximated that over ten million African slaves were kidnapped and trafficked to the Americas through the Middle Passage. The plights of the slaves across the middle passage were increased by the physical abuse, emotional abuse, and horrific living conditions they faced on their journey. We will write a custom essay sample on The Middle Passage or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page During their trip across the Middle Passage, the African captives were subjected to despicable and inhumane physical abuse.Slaves were stacked on top of each other during the packing process. Taken from their homes and family)/s straight into the bondage of enslavement, slaves were whipped and beaten until they complied. One slave ship physician, Dry. Thomas Trotter, described the slaves as locked spoons and locked to one another (Document C). Slaves were chained together in the hold to prevent possible rebellions against their white abductors. It was very uncomfortable for the slaves in the teen decks, for there was no space for them to move, and even the slightest movements caused their shackles to cut into their skin.While many slaves obediently complied with restraints and orders, some dissented, causing them to face the severe consequences for their behavior. As Thomas Phillips, a slave ship captain, writes in his account of traveling the Middle Passage, commanders [had] cut of the legs or arms of the most willful slaves (Document B). By severing limbs of disobedient and unruly slaves, the commanders were able to display their supremacy over the slaves. These intimidations tactics scared the slaves into submission, allowing more control for their captors.Throughout the Middle Passage, the African slaves were exposed to much physical abuse. The spirit-breaking journey across the Middle Passage consisted of much emotional abuse against the African captives. After capturer the slave captains wanted to break the slaves will to fight, for broken slaves had more value to future masters. Subsequently, more value on the auction block. Aloud Equation, a captured African slave, retells of his experiences aboard the slave ship by saying, the shrieks of the women and the groans of the dying rendered the whole scene almost inconceivable (Document e). Unable to comfort one another because of the shackles that bound them, the slaves sat in humiliation and discomfort, listening to the gut wrenching cries of their companions. Autobahn Guano, a slave, once stated, death was more preferable than life A plan was concerted among us that we might burn and blow up the ship To perish together (Document E). Living and experiencing the painful trip to the Americas took all the courage and strength the slaves could muster. Many slaves turned to thoughts of suicide, for it was the only thing that could relieve them of their despair.The trip cross the Middle Passage was not for the faint of heart, for the emotional abuse the slaves faced on the Middle Passage was ruthless; only the strongest survived. Across the Middle Passage, captured slaves were forced to reside in unspeakable and inhumane living conditions. Slaves were forced to survive in the bowels of the ship with contaminated water and foreign, non-beneficial food. As the ship rocked, so did the cargo of slaves. Zambia Example, a prince turned captive slave, recounts his encounter as an onlooker to the slave transportation by saying, The poor slaves below Re mostly thrown to the side, where they lay heaped on top of each other Fifteen of [the slaves] were smothered (Document D). Made helpless because of their chains, slaves would begin to roll and pile on top of one another after large storms or waves rocked the boat. Many of these events resulted in the suffocation Of those On the bottom of the piles, for they would not be relieved from their positions for many hours after the crew made their rounds, and righted all the piles. On top of this, poor ventilation compounded the problems of a slave struggling to breathe.Aloud Equation describes the conditions in the teen decks by commenting [the air was] unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells and brought on a sickness among the slaves (Document E). Because of the close quarters in the teen decks, diseases spread quickly, often plaguing entire rows at one time. Both the dead and living slaves coexisted in the teen decks, with the rotting bodies of passed slaves transferring many diseases before being found, often times, several days after the original death. Pungent, rancid smells often filled he teen decks, caused by the living, dying, dead, and human waste. The nauseas stench lived coherently with the slaves, rendering the entire trip even more unlivable. There was no relief from the constant harsh living conditions the slaves had to endure. Across the Atlantic Ocean on the Middle Passage, captive Africans were physically abused, emotionally abused, and forced to live among the living and dead in abysmal living conditions. With the introduction of new technology, lands once uncharted became reachable. Using the neurons created from the Atlantic Trade System, trade ships revealed across the continents to trade human cargo for manufactured goods in a never ending triangle.Throughout the three hundred years, the millions of Africans transported faced a lifetime of backbreaking work and pain. At the end of slavery, the African population greatly outnumbered the White population, creating a large income gap, and damaging an entire race as well as the entire southern economy. After the slave trade was outlawed, African ancestors were forced to pick up the pieces of a broken history and face the permanent damage with many more years of struggles to come.