Discussion
Professor’s Quick Recap:
Between the 16th and 19th centuries, the Transatlantic Slave Trade brought twelve million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World as part of a broad exchange of trade goods between England, West Africa, South America, the West Indies, and the United States. While the largest numbers of slaves were sent to South America, particularly Brazil, and the West Indies, smaller numbers arrived in the United States where Americans purchased them for labor. Most often from the west and central portions of the African continent, these enslaved people were kidnapped, forced to endure extreme violence, ripped from family and familiar language and culture, and treated as property.
They endured the horrors of the Middle Passage, the journey by ship from West African slave trading ports to the New World during which an estimated two million captives died. Once in the United States, enslaved Africans were sold at auctions across the country, from the rice plantations of the South Carolina coast to the small businesses and farms of the rural Northeast. Both England and the United States outlawed the importation of slaves through slave trading in 1807. This did not fully prevent illegal slave trading to the United States, which persisted until the American Civil War.
For this week’s DBQs I want us to take a dive into the experiences and impacts caused by slavery and the Middle Passage. Please review the questions below and follow the guidelines accordingly.
Writing Guidelines:
Write a minimum of 200-words per question
Clearly outline which question you are answering (i.e. Reading Material Question 1, Documentary Question 3, etc.)
Cite your work in MLA (if using quotes or referring to scholarly source)
Respond to at least two of your peers’ post
Questions:
Reading Materials (Answer question below):
Think about what you knew about the slave trade before this lesson and what you know
now. Did this change the way you think about slavery in the United States? If so, how? Also, share your overall thoughts on this week’s reading materials.
The Middle Passage Documentary (Answer at least TWO questions):
What was the experience like for enslaved Africans (from being kidnapped to being sold)? How was this experience designed to prevent challenges for the African slaves?
Describe the concept of what it means to be a resistant slave and share some examples of how enslaved Africans practiced resistance during the Middle Passage.
In your own words, how would you describe what the Middle Passage represented? Also, highlight at least three points from the documentary that stood out to you the most.