The Glory Field

The Atlantic Slave Trade attempts to dehumanize enslaved Africans in numerous ways. First of all, from the sketch of a slave ship in the Middle Passage, it reveals that each slave has very limited space on the ship. Therefore, due to the harsh living condition on the ship, many slaves died in the Middle Passage. In addition, slaves were used as possessions, sold in market, “poked and prodded by strange white people” (Berlin 4). This intends to show “plantation owners’ wealth and power” (Berlin 2). Moreover, slaves might be “whipped, restrained, or maimed for any infraction, large or small ” (Henretta 100). Particularly, slave owners brandishing hot irons on slaves, to reveal their confined identity as slaves. Furthermore, the slave owners also

To really show the horrendous conditions that the slaves endured, the author includes a 1787 replication drawing of the slave ship Brooks. Built in 1781 with a lower deck intended to accommodate 294 slaves, giving each slave a space comparable to the size of a coffin. Adult males were allocated a space six feet long and fifteen inches wide and allowing even less space for adult women, boys, and girls. The height of the same area was just five feet, and did not include any toilet facilities for the slaves. In most cases, the captains would load double the number of slaves their ships were designed for leading to even worse conditions onboard with more mouths to feed but not enough provisions to compensate. Those slaves who died during the journey through the Middle Passage were simply thrown overboard, where their bodies were eaten by ravenous sharks.

After reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, it is clear to see the true horrors behind the entirety of slavery. It is one thing to learn about it from a textbook or to sit through a lecture, but it is a completely different experience to get an account of how grossly inhumane, frightening, and appalling slavery really was from someone who experienced the terrors first-hand. Reading this narrative provided extremely descriptive details of how slaves truly were treated. Douglass recounted the time where he had often:

“The Book of Negroes is a master piece, daring and impressive in its geographic, historical and human reach, convincing in its narrative art and detail, necessary for imagining the real beyond the traces left by history.” I completely agree with The Globe and Mail’s interpretation of this story. One could almost see the desolate conditions of the slave boats and feel the pain of every person brought into slavery. Lawrence Hill created a compelling story that depicts the hard ships, emotional turmoil and bravery when he wrote The Book of Negroes.

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. Zamba Xembola, a prince turned captive slave, recounts his encounter as an onlooker to the slave transportation by saying, “The poor slaves below…were 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. Olaudah Equiano describes the conditions in the tween 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 tween decks, diseases spread quickly, often plaguing entire rows at one time. Both the dead and living slaves coexisted in the tween decks, with the rotting bodies of passed slaves transferring many diseases before being found, often times, several days after the original

They were not just taken for a few hours of their homes but were forced to travel around and it was not comfortable at all. The salves were not in a right mind set they were abused and forcefully packed all together during their long voyages spending long periods of time squished together not being capable of moving nor sunlight (‘Conditions on a slave ship” (Doc #3)). In “Picture of a slave ship” (Doc #5) you are capable of a clearer image of actually seeing all the salves being captured and put almost stacked on top of each other on the ship. In the picture you can see how they could not move at all. They were so close to the other person simply just laying there they were touching bodies with someone

European slave traders restructured their merchant ships to squeeze as many African slaves as possible below the decks. Tightly packed, European traders chose to haul more human cargo than regulated to compensate for anticipated losses. This system of packing yielded a greater profit margin. Feelings comments about the horrifying environment of the slave ships, “In the dank, crowded hold, which was about five feet high, the captives confined in a prone position, occupying no more space than a coffin.”

The Slave Ship was written by Marcus Rediker and it tells several accounts of the African slave trade as well as the world of the middle passage. The author discusses the nature of the slave ship and the African paths to the middle passage. Rediker also mentions the lives of historical figures (Olaudah Equiano, James Field Stanfield, and John Newton) and the roles that they had during the Atlantic slave trade. For the African captives, the sailors, and captains, the slave ship was seen as a wooden, floating, traveling dungeon and a place of terror and survival, which are also the overall main themes of the book.

I did not know what was going to happen when I boarded the large ship. I knew it was not good for I was a captive to these white people. My imagination did not even come close to how wretched a state we were all going to be a part of for the next sixty days.

If the slaves survived the crossing, they expected an uncertain fate on the sugar cane fields of the Caribbean, the tobacco plantations of Virginia or the rice fields of South Carolina. When the slave ships reached the American colonies and bases, the slaves were refreshed by the ship's physician. The slaves were allotted with vitamin-rich food, hair and beard were cut, and the bodies were rubbed with palm oil. Wounds and physical blemishes were overpainted, a process called bleaching. There were basically three areas where slaves were sold. First, ritual slavery, that is, slaves used in agriculture and plantation management. Secondly, urban slavery, that is, slaves forced to work in the household, in crafts, in port and in the transport industry.

Slaves were from Africa and traders would trade their items for slaves and then ship them to the new world. They were put on ships under the decks, sometimes they wouldn’t see sunlight for weeks. Sometimes they were beaten and wiped by the merchants. And when they got to the new world they would get off the ships and plantation owners would buy them and take them back to the plantation.

these boats were terrible for the slaves, with little space for each of them. Each slave is given a small

First, coming to America on the slave ship was an awful ordeal. When Captain Thomas Davies saw the slave ship blueprints, the horrors started to sink in. The slaves were chained up and squeezed in tight for maximum profit. They were put under the deck and got sea sick alot. Workers on the ship would also rape the female slaves for pleasure. One time, Captain Thomas Davies was in his cabin and Mr Slater came in and offered him a female slave for pleasure. The female slave looked horrified and Captain Thomas Davies refused to take her because he was a married christian man.

Throughout this time, the people who were enslaved were laid down on the floor of the ship and chained in rows for the entire length of the voyage. Using chain links, they kept the men slaves chained to each other by the pair in order to avoid possible rebellion and boarded away from women and children. (Clark

Seeing sunflower field in Kansas will cheer your mood up. you can try to visit the Grinters Sunflower Farm, Grinter Farm, or even Ted Grinter’s Sunflower Field. Full of cheerful and this is a good place to take some photos. If you want to come to theGrinter’s Sunflower Farm, you can visit 24154 Stillwell Road Lawrence, Kansas 66044, (785) 749-1325. You will get the free admission and pay a dollar a bloom for any sunflower you take with you.