Life, Death, and Family in Afro-American Slave

SocietiesBy Rachel, Skyler, and True

Internal Slavery in Africa and General Demographics

True Spangler

- Africa had a different slavery system than Latin America and the Caribbean.

- Africans were enslaved for various reasons.- Debt, crime, and war

- Slaves had some rights.- There were different treatments of slaves that varied from place to

place.- Slaves had varying roles.- African slaves were generally not from the same region as their

master.- The number of slaves dramatically increased with the demand from

Arabs and Europeans- This led to more battles and raids

The Slavery System in Africa

True Spangler

The Demographics of African Slaves- The demographic of slaves crossing the Middle Passage was characterized by a

high incidence of males and a very low incidence of children- No more than 10% of the slaves transported were children

- Exception: In the mid-19th-century slave trade to Cuba, the rate of children was 20%- Children were transported less on purpose

- In the internal slave trade in Africa, there was a higher rate of children being slaves

- Many female slaves that were transported to the Americas had already spent many of their fecund years in Africa.

- These biases in the slave trade impacted the growth of slave populations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

True Spangler

Slaves brought to Latin America

True Spangler

The Families of Slaves in Africa- Slaves sometimes became a part of their master’s families- Many women served as wives or concubines for their masters

- Sometimes, master’s children that were produced by slaves could not be sold or killed

- Slaves belonging to significant lineage or wealthy families would often receive better jobs

- This was important because their jobs were less dangerous

- Males could eventually receive a high social status- This was done through serving in wars as soldiers or as confidants of high officials.- Slaves were thought of as ideal persons to be close to men in power.- Exception: Women were in power in the 19th century West African Kingdom of Dahomey

- People without ties to kinship were not considered real persons in African society

- Slaves taken in battles or raids were stripped of their family ties True Spangler

The Middle Passage

Skyler Helgeson

The Basics of the Middle Passage

- Over the course of the Atlantic slave trade, 10-15 million slaves were transported.

- Of these, 1-2 million perished.- 80% of all slaves shipped were shipped between 1700 and 1850.- The triangular trade really did not exist.

- Slave ships were too specialized to carry large amounts of goods from America back to Europe.

- The slave trade was seasonal- Depended on wind, currents, and American demand

Rachel Heimke

Participants of the Middle Passage

- Four major European nations were responsible for the shipment of slaves to America.

- The Portuguese transported slaves throughout the entire slave trade, shipping the most slaves.- The British joined to be dominant shippers in the 1700’s.- The Dutch shipped many in the 1600’s.- The French shipped many in the 1700’s.

- Other nations participated in the slave trade, but only shipped small volumes of slaves for a short amount of time.

Rachel Heimke

Similarities of Shipping

- Because of the efficiency of certain methods in slave shipping, most European nations adhered to the same processes.

- Similar numbers of slaves per ship were packed.- Slave ships were relatively the same size.- The trip across the Atlantic took most ships similar amounts of time.- Limited shelter and poor food supply were uniform across slaving ships.

- The sizes and treatments that worked- 200 ton slaving ships- Large crews to monitor the slaves- Temporary sleeping platforms- A mix of African and European staples for food - rice, yams, and palm oil

Rachel Heimke

Who controlled the trade

- Contrary to popular belief, Europeans did not fully control the slave trade.- The African slave traders gave shipments of slaves to the Europeans - they had

very little say in which slaves they were given.- Local African governments sometimes regulated the trade, and other times

middlemen ran the transaction.- High prices were demanded from the Europeans

- Textiles- Iron bars- Tobacco- Alcohol

Rachel Heimke

Who was being shipped

- African sellers controlled the gender, nationality, and age of slaves, rather than European desire.

- Most slaves were designated by the port they were shipped from, and European traders did not venture inland to discover more on their own.

- African women were in high local demand, as they provided the means of kinship and family.

- Matrilineal systems were common in Africa. - Slave women were cheap to acquire for polygynous societies.

- Women were also used in agricultural labor, so were high-priced in African markets. - This impact of internal African slavery resulted in a two-to-one ratio of

men to women in the slave trade to America.

Rachel Heimke

Who was being shipped

- As the trade grew, slaves came from up and down the coast as well as inland.- They spoke different languages.- They practiced varied religions.- Captains wanted them to be able to communicate a little with one

another, to prevent a quarrel but discouraged placing people from the same region together.

- Most slaves were criminals, prisoners of war, or commoners who were captured.

Rachel Heimke

Forced Dancing

- When weather allowed, the slaves were brought up from below to spend about eight hours outside.

- To stay in good shape for buyers in America, they were forced to exercise.- The slaves were huddled on the deck, with crewmen waiting with whips.- They were forced to hop around, or “dance”, for as long as the crew made

them.- If they stopped, they were whipped until they started dancing again.

Rachel Heimke

Forced Dancing

Rachel Heimke

Death Rate in the Middle Passage

- Mortality rates among slaves were considered high enough to be “epidemic”.- In the 1600’s, the death rate was 20%.- With the introduction of vaccinations and better diet, the mortality rate

dropped to 5% in the 1800’s.- These rates do not tell the whole story, however.

- They are average rates, and at first there was great variation between slave ships. Some had much less death, while others experienced high rates of loss.

- By the 1700’s, efficient techniques were shared and adopted by most, so variation was less and death rates were more accurate.

- Longer trips generally had higher mortality.

Rachel Heimke

Causes of Death in the Middle Passage

- The packing of slaves and mixing of people from many ecological regions led to the introduction of diseases.

- Dysentery: - The “bloody flux”- Depended on food and water quality

- Smallpox- Measles

- Food and Water- Only small amounts were given- Often bad quality

- Crowded - half the room that criminals were given- Suffocation

- Bad airRachel Heimke

Olaudah Equiano

Former slave, abolition campaigner, 1789

“I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat. I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatables; and 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.”

Skyler Helgeson

Causes of Death, continued

- Refusing to eat- This happened when slaves gave up, but it often was stopped by the crewmen, who held the

slave’s mouth open and force fed them.

- Jumping off the side- A common form of suicide- In the later years of the slave trade, slave ships were equipped with nets off the side to prevent

jumping.

- Resistance- Rebellions on board slaving ships often resulted in high death counts of both slaves and crew- Ghost ships- Crew were more scared and therefore punished more

- Injuries- Dead were tossed overboard.

Rachel Heimke

John Newton’s Journal

Slaving Captain in 1754

“This morning I've found near 20 of them had broke their irons. Are at work securing them”

“In the afternoon secured all the men's irons again and punished 6 of the ringleaders of the insurrection."

“The air is so sharp that the slaves cannot stand the deck, not even to mess or wash.”

“Buryed a girl slave (No 92). In the afternoon while we were off the deck, William Cooney seduced a woman slave down into the room and lay with her brutelike in view of the whole quarter deck, for which I put him in irons.”

Skyler Helgeson

Tight and Loose Packing

- Tight packing- More slaves packed together on ship, less space for each- Higher mortality rate

- Loose packing- Less slaves packed together on ship- Lower mortality rate

- Long disagreement about which system was more profitable, as they both had similar results, just tight packing led to more slave death.

Rachel Heimke

Brookes slave ship (1788)

- The drawing showcases the numbers of slaves a ship could legally hold

- This image was used to push the abolitionist movement

- James Phillips reprinted the image many times

- This spread awareness

True Spangler

British Law

- After 1750’s, British slaving ships were forced to carry a surgeon- Often, the surgeon was more meant to help the crewmen than the slaves.- However, the death rate dropped to 1 in 18 for slaves after this was

implemented.

Rachel Heimke

Living Conditions during the Middle Passage

- Men and women were separated- Men were kept below deck, shackled in pairs- Often had only enough room to crouch or lie down- Women not as likely to be shackled, but often taken by the crew for sexual abuse- Children usually unchained and allowed to run about - used to communicate plans of rebellion

between men and women

- Below- Oppressive heat - Unhealthy air- Seasickness

- Above- Slaves forced to come above decks to exercise

Rachel Heimke

Crewmen on the Middle Passage

- Crew had many unpleasant duties- Controlling the slaves- Cleaning the hold where the slaves lived- Build shelter for the slaves while in Africa

- Had to be kept in line- Captain used harsh punishment- Whipping- Mental and physical abuse

- Disease- Exposed to new African diseases- Malaria

- 21% mortality at some points during the slave trade- Crew retaliated their misery towards the slaves

Rachel Heimke

Rebellion and Punishment

- Crew was most fearful of rebellion during beginning of the voyage.- Slaves had enough life still to rise up.- Crew members were often struck by malaria.- There was still a chance for slaves to turn around and make it home.

- Most rebellions did not succeed.- However, crew was still fearful.- Many searches for weapons and punishments for imagined causes

- Whips were used on crew.- Whips, thumb-screws, and a scissor-like tool, speculum oris, was used for

slaves.- Slaves lived in fear of being eaten by the Europeans.

Rachel Heimke

Shackles and Means of PunishmentClarkson, Thomas. Irons and Shackles Used on Slave Ships, late 18th cent. Slavery Images: A Visual Record of the African Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Early African Diaspora, Virginia Humanities / University of Virginia Library, slaveryimages.org/detailsKeyword.php?keyword=speculum%20oris&recordCount=1&theRecord=0. Accessed 4 Nov. 2018.

- Shackles- Speculum oris

Rachel Heimke

The Slave Ship Zong

- 1781, the captain of the slave ship Zong threw 122 living slaves overboard- Insurance covered death by punishment, but not death by disease- The Captain thought the slaves were getting sick, so “punished” them by throwing them over

the side. His insurance would then reimburse him at the end of the voyage.

Rachel Heimke

Family

- Families were separated- Often separated at beginning of voyage- Divided by gender on the ship- Usually sold to different buyers at the end of the journey

Rachel Heimke

Latin America and the Caribbean

Skyler Helgeson

Skyler Helgeson

Basics of Slavery

- 60-70% of all slaves transported through the Middle Passage went to Brazil and the Caribbean.

- Once they arrived onshore, slaves were washed and oiled to be presented to potential buyers.

- The Portuguese began the trade across the Atlantic. - They were shortly followed by the English, French, and Dutch.- These four dominated the shipment of slaves along the Middle Passage to Latin America.

Skyler Helgeson

Dutch Brazil

1630-1654- Dutch controlled the northern section of Brazil while Portuguese controlled

the remaining lands- created a multicultural society in which Protestant soldiers, Catholic sugar

planters, African slaves, and Sephardic Jews all lived alongside the colony’s various native groups

- focused on the arts and sciences along with advancing of culture- When they abandoned Brazil , they shifted focus from empire building to

growing commerce and trade within the Caribbean

Skyler Helgeson

Portuguese Brazil

- The Portuguese arrived in the Americas in April 1500.- Colonists initially looked to Indians for the necessary crop work but the

majority of them died due to European diseases. - African slaves were brought into Brazil as early as 1530. However, this trade

did not flourish until nearly half a century later due to the incapability to establish an economy.

- Between 1530, first arrival of African slaves to the abolition of slaves in 1888, Brazil received 4,000,000 Africans, over four times as many as any other American destination.

- Brazil received 40% of the total number of Africans brought to the Americas.

Skyler Helgeson

Portuguese Brazil (continued)

- Beginning in the 1530s, slaves entered through the port of Salvador and remained in Bahia.

- There sugar plantations rose to prominence during the colony’s early years.- The sugar trade then diminished and, although slaves were distributed to

other parts of Brazil, many remained in Bahia and worked in the capital of Salvador.

- In the 1690s, gold was found in Minas Gerais, tripling the demand for slaves; of the estimated 1.7 million slaves brought into Brazil in the late 17th and early 18th century, about 1 million went to the gold mines and diamond fields.

- In the 1830s, coffee came to prominence in southern Brazil: 1.3 million slaves eventually made their way to the coffee plantations.

Skyler Helgeson

Senegambia - Senegambia region supplied the greatest number of slaves in early

Transatlantic slavery to Brazil. - 15th and 16th century- Region lies along Sierra Leone and Gold coasts.

- In 1700, 35,000 slaves per annum leaving northern Senegambia region.- 19,000 slaves annually along Gold Coast

- In the 17th century, Angola and the Congo rose to dominate the slave importation to Caribbean and Latin America

Skyler Helgeson

Europeans in Africa - English and French were boat traders

- They had fixed forts along African coasts which allowed them to spread purchases over a wider area.

- French in Senegambia and Congo.- English traded from the Congo north. - The Dutch and Portuguese relied on factories to develop slave sources.

- Portuguese were the only county to establish urban centers along Congo coast.- This allowed them to get more uniform slaves and transport them faster and easier.

Skyler Helgeson

Tobacco effect on slave trade

- Most slaves went to sugar plantations on Brazil, but once Dutch seized Congo, they shifted transportation of slaves.

- African demand for Bahian tobacco led to the Dutch being forced to compromise and allow for the old trade to continue to Brazil.

- The slaves were paid for with Brazilian tobacco, textile, alcohol, and metal goods.

- Brazilian coffee plantations guaranteed that the western African coast would become an even larger element in the African trade to Brazil and the Americas.

Skyler Helgeson

Abolishment in Brazil

- Brazil ended the legal slave trade in 1850, - Due to pressure from Great Britain. Britain had outlawed slavery in the British colonies in

1833, and rising labor costs in the colonies made it very difficult to compete with the slave economies of Brazil and Cuba.

- The abolitionist movement in Brazil began to gain widespread support in the late 1860s. After the end of the legal slave trade, Brazil experienced a labor shortage because slavery had been sustained by continued imports of slaves rather than reproduction among the slave population.

- It wasn’t until 1888 that slavery was completely outlawed within Brazil. - May 13, 1888, the “Golden Law” abolished slavery with these simple words: “From the date of

this law slavery is declared extinct in Brazil.”

Slave Families in Latin America and the Caribbean

Rachel Heimke

Initial Separation

- When slaves were sold to new buyers, many families were irreversibly separated.

- Buyers rarely bought whole families, instead picking men and women as they pleased.

- Even those who had bonded over the course of the journey were often sold to different buyers and never saw one another again.

- Spouses were divided and children were often taken from their parents.

Rachel Heimke

Separation by Death

- If two family members were sold to the same owner, there was a large chance of one dying in the first few years of plantation work.

- Plantation labor was so grueling that the death rate was extremely high.- Mothers were expected to work soon after giving birth, so less and less

children were produced.- Families failed to sustain the slave population in Brazil and the Caribbean,

resulting in larger shipments of new slaves.

Rachel Heimke

New Families

- While men and women were at work on the plantations, one slave woman would adopt all the children too young to work.

- She would feed them and watch them during the day, and they would be returned to their parents at night (if they had any).

- Families that did exist could often spend their time in slave cabins when they weren’t working, where parents passed down knowledge and other skills to their children.

Rachel Heimke

Constant Threat of Separation

- If members were given to the same master, that master could always sell one away and separate the family again.

- Masters were always buying and selling, and most did not hesitate to sell one member of a family.

- Some slaves pleaded to remain with their family when this happened.- Only a few masters obliged.

Rachel Heimke

Encouragement of Families

- Despite constantly separating preexisting slave families, masters encouraged slaves to form marital ties.

- Masters believed that slaves with families were less likely to rebel or escape.- Marriage was encouraged

- Masters sometimes allowed a small ceremony and gave their slaves a gift.

- Forced marriage also was encouraged- Masters would force a slave man and woman to get married, even though the slaves did not

want it.

- Constant separation of families was one important argument for later abolitionist movements.

Rachel Heimke

Slave Marriage

- Brazil, 1816-1831- Unusually ornate

Debret, Jean Baptiste. Marriage de Negres d'une Maison Riche. Slavery Images: A Visual Record of the African Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Early African Diaspora, Virginia Humanities / University of Virginia Library, slaveryimages.org/details.php?categorynum=13&categoryName=Family%20Life,%20Child%20Care,%20Schools& theRecord=7&recordCount=12. Accessed 4 Nov. 2018.

Rachel Heimke

Death in Latin America and the Caribbean

Deaths resulting from the labor in southern Brazil

- Slaves in Brazil would prefer to work in serviços (diamond mines in Brazil) in the south because their owners were required to treat them when they were sick and dress them, and the administrators were required to feed them and dress them with the tools needed for work

- However, slaves would face damage to their intestinal tracts from consuming food with such little nutritional value

- Also, slaves could be crushed by falling rocks, which were loosened through their mining

Deaths resulting from labor in northern Brazil

- Slaves in the north of Brazil would work on plantations, which gave them less benefits through law

- There was no law but the absolute will of the master, and masters would often take advantage of this

- Slaves’ work in plantations was often for at least 12 hours each day, and their tasks mostly offered tools extremely inadequate for their jobs

- They would only be given a small hoe to plant cotton, and only a stick and an iron point to plant rice

- Slaves were forced to work in hot climates (often around 104 degrees in the summer) for long periods of time

Overall results of labor conditions in Brazil

- According to David Jardim: “a third of the slaves in Brazil die as a result of the excessive labor that they are forced to endure”

- Slaves were purchased with the intention of using them only for a year, after which very few would survive

- Slave owners did not see the harm in so many slaves dying because of this- Slaves would experience heat stroke because of the environments they were

forced to work in

Overall results of labor conditions in Brazil (continued)

- They would also experience apoplexy, which is “unconsciousness or incapacity resulting from a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke”, and this would “frequently occur at this time of day”

- Slaves were also required to work at night, which consisted of tasks like digging trenches, leveling terraces, and preparing coffee and sugar.

- This type of work in the evening would almost always cause illness because of suppressed perspiration