2. Journal#3
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1. When did the slave trade begin?
2. What other types of labor were used before Africans?
3. Why would other Africans capture and sell other Africans into the slave trade?
4. What would a "tight packer" captain do on their ships?
5. What was the point of view of some Africans about whites?
6. What impact did the slave trade have on Africa? (list 2 impacts)
7. Why did slavery in America take on a more racial approach? What belief/theory
supported this?
4. Atlantic Slavery Notes
1. When?
2. Why?
3. Where?
4. How were they enslaved (phases)?
5. Triangular Trade
6. Fighting Back
7. Growth of Slavery
8. Punishments
9. Jobs
10. Freedom
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5. Slavery Clips
History Channel: African Slave Trade
History Channel: Slavery in the Americas
Ain’t I a Woman (Sojourner Truth)
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6. 6
The Atlantic Slave Trade
When?
•1450 - Spanish & Portuguese start slaving in Africa
•1865 - still smuggling slaves until the end of the civil war
• (technically illegal in 1808)
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The Atlantic Slave Trade
Why?
•Labor shortage (not enough workers)
•Diseases killed off natives
•Ethnocentrism –(feelings of superiority)
•Greed/Wealth
•NOT b/c of what was once believed to just have
been better field workers
•NOT motivated by prejudice
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Number of people enslaved
30 million taken from
their homes
10 million die during
capture phase
10 million die during
middle passage
10 million survive to
make it over the ocean
13. 13
Phases of the Slave Trade
Capture:
•Tribes often did not have a choice in helping capture
neighbors “divide and conquer”
•Most captured 50-100 miles inland
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Phases of the Slave Trade
2. The Middle
Passage - Loose
pack
•Lower mortality,
lower profits
32. Life on the Slave Ship
•Branded to establish ownership
•Meals: boiled corn meal and beans, pint (half liter) of water with each
meal
•Slaves were made to “jump and dance” for an hour or two to keep them
fit
•Death was common among slaves in ship
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Phases of the Slave Trade
3. “Seasoning” -
•Brutal work camps, 4-5 months in Caribbean
•Meant to train people to be slaves
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Thinking Question:
Given how many people died during
the “Capture phase” or on the “Middle
passage,” what do you think went on
in the minds of the slave catchers
and slave traders?
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Growth of Slavery
Why Africans?
•Americas are desperate for labor
•Harder for Africans to run away than Native Americans
•African strengths - agricultural practices, resistance to
diseases
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Growth of Slavery
How did African slaves fight back?
•Open revolt (rare)
•Work slowdowns
•Breaking Tools
•Poisoning food
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Growth of Slavery
How much did it grow?
•1800 - 1 million in slavery
•1860 - 4 million (1/3 of Southern population)
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Growth of Slavery
Why?
•Invented 1793 - made slavery VERY productive
•100x faster than by hand
•More efficient = more $ (so need more slaves)
Cotton Gin
45. Death/ Punishments
•Greatest killer was disease among slaves
•Deaths outnumbered births
•Life expectancy: 23 (males)/25.5 (females)
•Harsh conditions
•Whippings/Beatings
•Owners devised ways to shame slaves
into obedience (metal face masks, “iron
muzzle”)
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51. Slave Jobs
•“Great gang”= strongest slaves in the prime of
their lie, did the heaviest work
•“Grass gang”= children under the supervision of
elderly slaves
•“Driver”= privileged male slave who made sure
the gang got their work completed
•Nursing mothers brought their babies to fields
•Slaves ships brought twice as many males and
females
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52. Freedom
• Manumission= legal grant of freedom by an owner
• More common in Brazil, Spanish and French
territory than in English territories
• Not uncommon for slave owner who fathered a
child by a female slave to give mother and child
their freedom
• Legal condition followed that of the mother, slave
families often struggled to free women in
childbearing years first so that the children would
be born free
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53. Rest of Class:
1. Finish 4,8,15 Highlights (turn in
to inbox when done)
2. If time, start your Africa flash
cards (Definitions on
bakersapworld.blogspot.com)
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