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The Middle Passage: Living Conditions of The Enslaved Aboard Trans-Atlantic Slave Ships

The document summarizes the horrific living conditions endured by enslaved people aboard Trans-Atlantic slave ships during the Middle Passage. It describes how slaves were confined in extremely cramped and unsanitary spaces below deck in chains. Mortality rates were high, with up to 20% of slaves dying from disease, malnutrition and abuse during the months-long voyages. Slaves faced brutal punishments, limited movement, and psychological torture through methods like being forced to dance or witnessing the aftermath of suicide attempts. The conditions aboard slave ships stood in stark contrast to the amenities of modern cruise ships.

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Shari Harris
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251 views17 pages

The Middle Passage: Living Conditions of The Enslaved Aboard Trans-Atlantic Slave Ships

The document summarizes the horrific living conditions endured by enslaved people aboard Trans-Atlantic slave ships during the Middle Passage. It describes how slaves were confined in extremely cramped and unsanitary spaces below deck in chains. Mortality rates were high, with up to 20% of slaves dying from disease, malnutrition and abuse during the months-long voyages. Slaves faced brutal punishments, limited movement, and psychological torture through methods like being forced to dance or witnessing the aftermath of suicide attempts. The conditions aboard slave ships stood in stark contrast to the amenities of modern cruise ships.

Uploaded by

Shari Harris
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Middle

Passage
Living Conditions of the enslaved aboard Trans-
Atlantic Slave Ships
Slave Ship Conditions
 Today we will learn about the conditions which slaves
faced in the journey from Africa to the New World.

 We will get an understanding of the horrors of the


Middle-Passage from the perspective of those who
suffered its worst extremes.

 I know I will be successful if I can:


 Imagine how it felt to be a captive slave
 Describe the conditions of the middle passage slave ships
 Explain why conditions were so bad aboard these ships
Learning Intenions
Today I will learn …

How to analyse and


evaluate sources. (Like
this man here!)

 How to work in groups


and use teamwork to reach
a conclusion.
 When Slaves were sold into new world-slavery on the
West-African coast, they would face a terrible journey
across the Atlantic Ocean

 They would spend the majority of the journey in chains


and awful conditions of filth and bad nutrition, leading to
disease and death.

 In fact, of the 10-15 million slaves who were to be forced


across the Atlantic, at least 2 million died. (between 15-
20%)
 Slaves would be routinely punished with whipping and beating
amongst other forms of punishment.

 They would be held in captivity and below the deck of the ship
all night with no access to any essentials such as bathrooms.
 When they were allowed on the upper deck for brief
period during the daytime, slaves were forced to
‘exercise’.

 Often this took the form of being forced to dance for


their master’s amusement.
 In such unbelievably terrible conditions, slaves
sometimes tried to rebel to overthrow the rule of the
ship’s crew.
 Furthermore, in such conditions suicide by jumping into
the sea became very common.

 This was a problem for ship captains as slaves were very


valuable.

 The methods used to combat suicide therefore, were very


severe.

 For example, captains used the sharks that followed the


ships as a means to terrify slaves. One ship captain, who
had a rash of suicides on his ship, took a woman and
lowered her into the water on a rope, and pulled her out as
quickly as as possible. When the slaves could see her, it
became apparent that the sharks had already killed her—
and bitten off the lower half of her body.’
 This lesson will outline these
conditions which the enslaved
suffered and help us to understand
the lengths they went to in order
to be free from them.
Starter Exercise
 Comparing a Middle-Passage slave ship to a modern day
cruise ship
 On this ship, the ‘Thomson
Majesty’

 The size of a regular cabin for


two people measures 3 m2
(roughly
the size of a small bedroom
in an average house).
In comparison, aboard this slave ship, ‘The Brookes’

The Sleeping Quarters was 1.4x6ft for men, 1.4x5ft for women,
1x5ft for Boys, and 1.4.6ft for Girls. What did this look like?
A famous picture of the
Ship’s layout.
A Drawing of how the
enslaved would sleep
Quick Exercise
A Mediterranean cruise on the Thomson
Majesty lasts a fortnight. How long do
you think a journey on a slave ship would
last?

Answer: up to 3 months
Main exercise: conditions
on a slave ship
 Lets listen to the conditions aboard slave ships described
by Mr Norris, who was Pro-Slavery.

(http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/assets/
0712/0000/0046/mr_norris.mp3)
Final Thoughts…
 Most of today’s sources have been taken from Abstract of the evidence…,
(1791) and are from the perspective of abolitionists petitioning parliament
to end the slave trade. Eventually their efforts succeeded when the British
parliament banned trade was banned in 1807. Given the horrific
conditions outlined in this material

Why do you think it took so long for this to happen?

 In the late 18th century, abolitionists only sought to end the slave trade, but
not the institution of slavery itself. It was only after the trade was ended in
1807 that abolitionists began to campaign against slavery (which was
eventually abolished in 1834-8).

Why do you think they did this?

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