Middle Passage Slavery

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From the beginning of slavery in the Americas until it was abolished in 1865, nearly 27,000 slave ships took slaves inhumanely across the atlantic ocean on a route known as the middle passage.The journey took from one to six months, depending on weather conditions, the conditions on the journey were disgusting and many Africans died before they could reach the Americas.

The living conditions on the journey across the middle passage were appalling. Slaves were packed into very cramped spaces and chained together by the legs, often they would have to practically lie on each other to fit into the space that was provided. Moving around was nearly impossible, which caused conditions to be very unhygienic. However, they were allowed time on deck to exercise or “relax”, men were shackled together as they were seen as a threat, but the women and children were allowed to wander on deck. There were many other things to worry about besides being cramped.

Disease was one of the most common causes of
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On some ships they were taken up on deck to be fed by the crew twice a day, on other ships they were fed below deck. If food supplies on the ship were low, the slaves would be given little to no food as priority for food was put on the captain and crew. Many slaves were forced to suicide by the horrible conditions, and one of the forms of suicide was refusing to eat, however the crew would force feed the slaves. “On my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across I think the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely.”- Olaudah Equiano. Starvation suicide attempts eventually became so common that a punishment device called “speculum orum” was created specifically to force slave’s mouths open. There were many other ways to punish slaves besides using the “speculum