Chapter 6 of the Book “The Middle Passage”

Chapter 6 of the Book “The Middle Passage”

Synopsis

Chapter 6 of the book “Middle Passage” explains more about the harsh condition faced by the slaves. It is dominated by the situation faced by the African slaves being shipped to America. According to the provision by the chapter, the slaves had been purchased from the coast of Africa (Johnson, 2012). The slaves had to cross the Atlantic Ocean for their arrival in America, where they were to be used.  The journey was termed as “middle passage,” following the route that the ship had to take for the slaves to reach the final destination. In the Atlantic slave trade, the most notorious issue is the torture that these people in the ship faced and the mortality they experienced(Johnson, 2012). They are said to have been packed in a manner suggesting inhuman. The condition is evident in the explanation given by Rutherford. Rutherford slaves that the slaves were stinking of their feces and vomit, implying that the situation was worse in the ship during the shipment. They are reported to be unable to walk after they arrive, and this makes Rutherford refer the captain as an evil for the torture he made these human beings face.

The literature has painted this particular slave experience part as more inhuman and uniquely evil than any other slave’s life horror.  The chapter’s provision has a most substantial deal with the historical abolitionists who had realized that the coastal part of Africa was easy to enslave. Thus it was highly attacked(Johnson, 2012). The trade merchants were opposed to impunity, while the American class of slave-owning could not easily be attacked. A group of British propagandists of the 18^th and 19^th centuries came up with the interpretation of the trade. Their portrayal was based on their beliefs that the whole of the transportation process of slaves was an unmitigated disaster. According to Thomas Fowell Buxton, one of the early writers, only 18% of the mortality that was suffered by the slaves occurred in abroad ship. Almost 71% of the death occurred on transportation to the coast(Johnson, 2012). The rest was suffered as the slaves tried to adjust to the new world after arriving. The fact is that the journey took almost three to four months from Africa to North America via Brazil. The period of four months is a lot of time, given that the condition is not favorable..

Definition of Concepts

The first concept that dominates the chapter is the concept of the slave trade. Slave trade involved buying of the labor force by Americans from Africa. It was said to be a forced slave trade as the slaves were forcefully sold and forced to travel regardless of their welfare. The other concept is a shipment, and it refers to the transportation of the slaves from the African coast to America(Johnson, 2012). The third concept is the merchants. These are Africans who sold their fellow Africans to work as a slave in America. In this trade, the slaves were the merchandise. The fourth concept is the middle passage, and it is part of the triangle trade. The middle passage is the second leg of the triangle trade that involved the shipment of the slaves to America. The slaves were to go through a process of two to three years referred to as “breaking-in.” during this break-in process, the slaves could work in the plantations, and the final product was shipped to Europe.

Reference

Johnson, C. (2012). Middle passage.Simon and Schuster.