Edmund Walton September 18, 2011 HIST 114 Chapter 2 [Williams]: Read The Interesting Narrative of the Life

of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African (Chapter 2 42-51). What does this document illustrate about life in West Africa? How does it show the slave trades destabilizing effect on African society and family? The slave trade deeply destabilized African society and family. On the other hand, there was an interior African Slave Trade that Mr. Equiano was familiar with but the European West African Slave Trade was extra vicious. The European Slave Trade infused many West African Traditional Societies with new goods such: cooking utensils, guns, different foods, clothes, and alcoholic beverages. The Slave Trade destabilized many communities because it increased the Africans already internal slave trade. Many became slave traders and capturers. Men were not the only capturers, women participated in these crimes. It was an only the strong survive world. The European Slave Trade tore families apart even before Africans arrived in the Western Hemisphere. The European Slave Trade also increased and perpetuated intra African warfare. There were always wars but they increased because of the Slave Trade because newer weapons were introduced into their conflicts.

[Franklin]: Describe a typical voyage (from the enslaved point of view) on a slave ship

from Africa to the New World. Terrific fright and horror are the immediate emotions that come to my mind when I think of my ancestors traveling by force from Africa to the United States and other countries and islands within the Western Hemisphere. Africans were cramped like sardines into the bottom of the slave ships. They were march at times at least 1,000 miles from the interior to the coast. Men, women, and children were chained together like animals as they marched. Thousands died along the way. In the ship, men were chained like sardines, women were chained like sardines, and children were too. Many slaves thought they were be eaten by the whites. Women were raped continuously on the ship. Children fell into the waste tubs because they were not secured well in the chains. When women gave birth, the babies would drop into the waste tubs. Beyond these terrible situations, there were be random and unmerciful beatings. There would also be forced feedings and if possible Africans would try to jump off the boat to commit suicide. There was just utter confusion and horror experienced by the Africans who were on the ships traveling to the Western Hemisphere in slave ships.

[Williams]: Read The Second Voyage of John Hawkins, 1564-1565 (85-93) and The Middle Passage and Personality Change among Diaspora Africans (96-107). Using both

explain the conditions on the ships. Did Africans resist their condition? How does the author Uya describe the slave ship vs. the plantation? What is the motive behind slave uprisings? What tactics were used to quell rebellion? The slave ships were living hell holes. There was death, suicide, sickness, depression, and a vast array of sufferings. Also, there were slave revolts. Hundreds of them actually. Beyond the sufferings of the slave ships, there was love. Many slaves, especially of the same ethnic groups were able to encourage one another with memories of their previous lives. They were able to bond even in the midst of sufferings. Slaves resisted their condition by displaying physical aggression against their capturers. Men and women fought to the death to fight their enslavement. They used knives, iron, their chains and whatever they could find to deliver their attacks. Women were the schemers of these brave plans. This is because women many times were allowed to walk the decks without chains. But they would used this freedom to their advantage and fight against the ship crew. Men would communicate via facial gestures to stay on accord with the women and fight alongside them. Men and women fought on the ships against the crew because they wanted to go back home. They were unfairly captured and treated like animals. They wanted revenge over their devilish treatment. They knew that the only way for them to get back home was to fight and thats what they did. Finally, the crew checked in the bowels of the ship to see if anyone was unchained. They used whippings, guns, knives, and public displays of violence to quell ship revolts.