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| Examining the Middle Passage |
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Overview:
Students will examine period documents to learn about the hardships endured by captured African slaves.
Materials:
The following are available as pdf files:
Excerpt:
The African Slave Trade by Alexander Falconbridge
(1788)
Excerpt:
The Middle Passage by Olaudah Equiano (1789)
Additional Material:
Image of slaves on the Amistad
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h310b.html
Aim/Essential Question:
Why did so many African slaves die on the Atlantic crossing?
Objectives:
- Students will be able to describe the living conditions
and treatment of Africans captured for the slave trade.
- Through reading and role-playing, students will
gain a better understanding of hardships faced by
captured Africans.
- Students will improve written communication skills
through the writing of letters or the creation of
a broadside or poster.
Motivation:
In order to get students involved in the activity, the
teacher should consider the creation of a "slave
ship" in the classroom. This activity will help students
better understand what it must have felt like to be a
slave on a slave ship during the middle passage. Have
the students sit on the floor so that they are very close
to each other, with little room to move around. Mark out
a boundary around the group with tape on the floor to
indicate the small size of the space. Turn out the lights,
because the slaves were kept under the decks, where it
was dark.
Have the children imagine that they are slaves who have
been captured in Africa, and forced into this dark, creaking
small space on the slave ship. Tell them that for much
of the journey, they can't move out of that small area
-- not to go up on deck, not to stretch, not even to go
to the bathroom. Ask them how long they think they could
stay in such a small space under those circumstances,
and how long they think the journey would take. (Generally,
it took from four to six weeks to reach the New World.)
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