African Diaspora Experience During The Transatlantic Slave Trades

The African Voices of the Atlantic Slave Trade by Anna C. Bailey takes a rather interesting approach into the history of the Atlantic slave trade. Bailey took a personal journey, and was determined to break the silence. Of course with that being said it would prove to be a difficult quest since so many of these people are shamed about slavery, and the discussion of slavery is a taboo topic in its own ways. It was time to break the silence. Through out the book she explores diverse groups, of distinct people who all share the prevalent history of slavery. Her central theme in unveiling the past is through oral stories. Bailey makes it known in the first chapter that most texts written about the slave trade primarily focus on the Europeans perspective, which is what sets her book apart. Bailey herself residing in Jamaica takes an intimate standpoint to slavery, herself being of African slave descent, and knowing very limited details about her extensive family history. “What is clear from my family history is that more is known about the relatively recent past than is known about the period when my family members were undoubtedly slaves) . Through the obstacles and difficulties Bailey was able to succeed, and gave those affected a voice. Her approach will be examined, and the strengths and weaknesses in her approach will be brought to light.

Slavery was one of the darkest periods in African American history. Africans were taken from their homes in West Africa and brought to America to work on plantations. However, slavery was not something new, as it existed in Africa before Europeans partook in it, but slavery in Africa was very different from slavery in America. During their voyage through the Middle Passage many slaves perished. Those who survived were sold and subjected to the harsh life on the plantations. When this happened, their authentic cultures were drastically changed from the way of life in their native homelands in Africa to life in the plantation society of the American colonies.

The majority of the diverse American population knows a little something about the topic, slavery. Whether they’ve learned about it from a chapter of a textbook or an educational film from their history class, or have heard stories of their ancestors passed down from generation to generation, we all have an idea of what slavery is. However, we do not know the basics. For example, when did slavery come into play? How did this manner of treating “uncivilized” people like property become accepted, and what made it suddenly turn into a looked down upon doing?

Slavery is rooted deep in American history. Starting from when the English settled Jamestown, slavery was a big part of the culture. It allowed for the mass cultivation of crops, making it a huge economic booster, but found criticism in society because of the way that the slaves were being treated. In today’s world, slavery is not an issue, as it was prohibited during the Civil War, but the ongoing racism directed at African Americans is still a problem. It wasn’t until the 19th century that people began getting very serious about the issue of slavery, arguing on whether or not it should be allowed.

Holt, T.C. & Brown, E. B. (2000). Major Problems in African American History Volume 1: From Slavery to Freedom 1619-1877. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Throughout the course of history, the history of African Americans has been strongly surrounded by violence, difficulties to stablish themselves into the American society, and most importantly, freedom. The majority of the struggle that black folks still facing today originated from slavery. Millions of Africans were brought against their will to the new world between the 17th and 19th century as a mean of cheap labor. Slavery was mostly known for the inhuman treatment of negroes that were brought from Africa. Africans were forced into slavery by European men carrying guns in the early 17th century. These slaves

The Atlantic slave trade was just one part of a three legged international trade network. This was known as the triangular trade, because of the shape of the route from each of the three points to stop and trade being shaped just like a triangle. It linked Europe, Africa, and the Americas. It was a very important piece of society in the 15th century. There were benefits to this trade, but mostly to the businesses and merchants. However, the impact it had on the African people lasted for centuries after slavery had ended through racism and discrimination.

Historically, the era of slavery in the early United States is defined by its impacts on the African-American community, yet the origin story of slavery seems to be forgotten. The era of slavery was started through the practice of indentured servitude, which allowed poor Europeans to immigrate to the colonies in exchange for being temporarily slaves. This was the first form of slavery in the United States, yet, when asked to describe slavery, most can only connect it to black slavery. This brings to question why slavery isn’t a relatable root in history for both black and white communities. The answer lies in the the fact that poor whites are divided from African-Americans by the rules of society.

My ancestors, along with many other African Americans living in society today are decedents of African slaves. I can remember as far back as age 5 listening to the elders in my family talk about slavery. The word slavery originated when millions of African men and women were forcible taken from their families and the familiar surroundings of their African villages. Brought here to an unfamiliar environment and forced to work on plantations in different parts of the United States, usually from sun up to sun down. the transatlantic slave trade formally began in 1518, when King Charles I of Spain sanctioned the direct importation of Africans to his colonies in the America. The transatlantic slave trade became a lucrative international

The screams of the women and children were unbearable, and the groans of the dying rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable."--Olaudah Equiano, from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African (London, 1789). These were just some of the travesties that occurred on the middle passage from West Africa to an important slave port. This journey lasted several months and through the entire time there was rape and death. The person toll of this trade was high. Many slaves died during the long and terrible voyage, due to the lack of enough sustenance and fresh air. Additionally, human rights were being abused, and extremely unsanitary conditions on board caused the rapid spread of plague-like diseases, that sickened or killed slaves by the

The first stage of the Transatlantic Slave Trade was known as the ‘Outward Passage’. This is where ships carried goods from Europe to trade in Africa for captured slaves. The ‘Middle Passage’ was the second stage of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The last stage of the Transatlantic Slave Trade was the Return Passage which is where ships returned back to Europe from the New World, usually carrying cargo that consisted of sugar and tobacco they got in exchange for the slaves. The ‘Middle Passage’ was infamously known as the most cruel and inhumane way to ship slaves from Africa to the West Indies. The enslaved people were packed onto ships, forced to lay next to each other shoulder to shoulder. The ‘Middle Passage’ took about seven to eight

Around the mid-fifteenth century, the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade began. When the Portuguese moved away from their interests of selling gold, they turned to an asset that would gain them more money, slaves. By the seventeenth century, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was fully established, and hit its milestone by the end of the eighteenth century. There were three stages to the Trans-Atlantic TradeStage, every stage played a role in a journey that was cost-effective for merchants. “As a commercial and economic enterprise, the slave trade provides a dramatic example of the consequences resulting from particular intersections of history and geography. It involved several regions and continents: Africa, America, the Caribbean, Europe and the Indian

Despite the limitations imposed by slavery, Africans and their descendants made substantial contributions to American culture in agriculture, cuisine, food culture and language. As for Cultural integration, such actions occurred during the transatlantic slave trade between West Africans and Central Africans and the European Americans was a forced interaction that cannot be reversed. The transatlantic slave trade in 1889, established a permanent link between Africa and North America as Africans sold into slavery transplanted their cultures to the New World.

“In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of death, which I began to hope would soon put an end to my miseries.”(Equiano). Olaudah Equiano’s first hand experience of being kidnapped, as a child in Africa, is a poignant accounting of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This era and actions of the slavers, which we now view as “Crimes against Humanity,” lasted approximately 400 years from the 16th to 19th century (Smallwood). Many have called this forced exodus of 12-15 million African men, women, and children as a dark time where profits came at the cost of human suffering. As Equiano and many historians detailed, the abduction of Africans occurred mostly in West Africa, the region from Senegal to Angola. The three-legged trade route spanned many continents and areas from Europe, Africa, the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and South America. There were many who profited from the Triangular Slave Trade, from Africans, Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French. Many have surmised that profitability in the industries involved and the economies of the European empires relied heavily on the output of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The European colonial empires would typically to trade with Africans for gold, ivory, spices, and enslaved Africans. The slavers would then travel to the Americas and the Caribbean, in what was known as the Middle Passage, the horrific journey where, “millions of enslaved

Walking down Duane Street in Downtown, Manhattan and passing by the African Burial Ground National Monument is one the greatest experiences possible. The street is very busy with enormous buildings and the busy street corner bodega. However, one you step inside the burial is like you entered another realm of hope and peace. This burial shows the great capacitates of the African Diaspora to touch onto even in one of the busiest streets in the world. It’s a monument which recalls all of the wonderful things that the African Diaspora brought to the West such as their faith, ideas, figures, symbols, etc. and in the middle the resemblance of the Black Atlantic with the names of those who buried there, although just their body characteristics because