The Middle Passage
Note to Teachers: This resource addresses sexual assault.
Document Text
The Voyage of the Slave Ship James
Voyage Start Date: July 1674
Voyage Start Port: London
Slave Embarkation Port: New Calabar
Total Slaves Embarked: 104
Slave Disembarkation Date: February 1675
Slave Disembarkation Port: Cuba
Total Slaves Disembarked: 72
Men: 39%
Women: 36%
Boys: 18%
Girls: 7%
Percentage Male: 57%
Percentage Children: 25%
Voyage 9938, Golden Lyon, 1678. The Trans–Atlantic Slave Trade Database.
Background
The middle passage of the Atlantic Slave Trade carried recently-enslaved men, women, and children from the west coast of Africa to the colonies in the Americas. Records indicate that over two million people were forcibly transported across the Atlantic between 1500 and 1700. Only 1.7 million survived the journey. The Spanish were the most prolific enslavers during this period. Approximately 266,000 enslaved people were brought to the Spanish colonies during this time. By the time the Atlantic Slave Trade was abolished in the United States in 1808 an estimated twelve million enslaved people had been forcibly taken to the Americas.
The horrors of the Middle Passage are well-documented. Cramped conditions, lack of food and water, widespread disease, and abuse at the hands of captors all led to a high mortality rate. But traditional historical narratives tend to leave out the specific horrors faced by female captives. Women and girls were raped by crew members. Pregnant women received no medical care, and most women who went into labor aboard slave ships died. Mothers of young children had to ensure not only their own survival but also that of their children, only to be separated at the slave markets when they were sold to different buyers.
About the Resources
These statistics are from the Middle Passage voyage of the English slave ship James. This voyage is representative of the many English ships that brought enslaved people to the Spanish colonies. Both countries were dependent on this trade partnership by the end of the 1600s.
The seventy-two enslaved people who survived the journey were probably forced to work on sugar plantations in the Spanish colony of Cuba.
For more records of slave ship voyages, visit Voyages: The Atlantic Slave Trade Database.
Vocabulary
- Atlantic Slave Trade: The name for the trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas in the 1500s–1880s. Ships brought goods to Africa, where they were traded for enslaved people to take to the Americas, where the enslaved people were traded for money and agricultural products to bring back to Europe. This term is preferred over Triangle Trade.
- disembark: Leave a ship.
- embark: Go aboard a ship.
- London: Capital of England.
- Middle Passage: The part of the Atlantic Slave Trade that brought enslaved people from Africa to the Americas.
- New Calabar: Port in present-day Nigeria.
Discussion Questions
- What dangers did enslaved women face during the Middle Passage?
- Thirty-four of the enslaved people aboard the James—one-third of the total—did not survive the journey. What does this reveal about the conditions aboard the ship?
- Twenty-five percent of the enslaved people aboard the James were children aged ten years or younger. What effect would such an experience have on the lives of these young people?
Suggested Activities
- APUSH Connections:
- 2.4 Transatlantic trade
- 2.6 Slavery in the British colonies
- 2.4 Transatlantic Trade
- Include this document as part of any lesson on the Middle Passage or the Atlantic Slave Trade. This resource can help students begin to consider the specifics experiences of women and children who were trafficked as part of the Atlantic Slave Trade.
- Ask students to create an infographic of the data on the enslaved people carried by the James to the New World. Then ask them to analyze their findings.
- Once students are comfortable interpreting and understanding the data in this ship record, invite them to continue their research on the Middle Passage by finding more voyage records on Voyages: The Atlantic Slave Trade Database.
- Teach this resource alongside The Business of Slavery for a lesson on the Atlantic Slave Trade. Ask student to compare and contrast the records of both slave ships. What do these records reveal about the changes in the Atlantic Slave Trade in the 1600s compared to the 1700s?
- Consider the knowledge West African women brought with them by teaching this resource in conjunction with Mortar and Pestle for Pounding Rice.
- Combine this resource with Life in Encomienda and Life in the Mission System for a lesson on exploitation and violence people of color endured for the profit of the Spanish colonies.
- Many enslaved women in the Americas endured the treacherous journey across the Atlantic as captives. Couple this resource with any of the following to enrich student understanding of the lives of enslaved women:
Themes
WORK, LABOR, AND ECONOMY
New-York Historical Society Curriculum Library Connections
- For more resources relating to the practice of slavery in the Caribbean, see Nueva York: 1613-1945.
