Slave Ships: An Inside Look

"Sometimes of the three attached to the same chain, one was dying and another dead. The tumult they had heard was the frenzy of those suffocating wretches in the last stage of fury and desperation, struggling to extricate themselves."1

During the 1700’s there was about 50,000 slaves that were shipped to the North America. “Of the estimated 7.7 million Africans transported to the New World between 1492 and 1820, over half arrived between 1700 and 1800.”2 The slave trade was a business, and human lives were a “product” that was bargained for other products such as grain, fruit, coffee, sugar, and rum. During the slave trade, the condition inside the slave ship were just a cruel as the enslavement of the millions of Africans that were brought to America. Africans fought for their lives before being taken from their homes. Others jumped overboard leaving their fate up to the unforgiving seas. Men were separated from the women and children, but they were all shackled by iron. “The height, sometimes, between decks, wrote one slave trader, was only eighteen inches, so that the unfortunate human beings could not turn around, or even on their sides…and they were usually chained to the decks by their necks.”2 The Africans were forced to lay on their backs or stomachs in a spoon-like fashion, leaving no room for any movement. The captains did not concern themselves with keeping the bows sanitary, for they believed in the survival of the fittest.
In order for an African to survive they would have to beat their surrounding conditions of, sanitation, disease, abuse, and suffocation. Those who were unable to stand the harsh conditions, died and were simply tossed overboard like waste. There was no proper burial, or ceremony for the dead. Babies and small children were tossed over like a defective device; unusable and unimportant. The slaves endured diseases such as small pox, the fever, and dysentery, which was a major factor in the deaths that occurred on the ships. The unsanitary conditions mixed with the hot heat lead to air bone pathogens that spread throughout the cabins. Many slaves attempted suicide, by refusing to eat. Horrifying devices were made to forcefully get them to consume food. One of the devices that was used was the speculum oris. It cranked open the slave's mouth and held it into position, while the sailors shoved food down their throats. This act invoked discharge from the stomach resulting in choking. Olaudah Equiano, who was captured and taken by slave ship, depicts the gruesome conditions in his remarkable autobiography “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African“. In his book it describes “The "shrieks of the women, the groans of the dying, the floggings, the wish to commit suicide, how those who somehow managed to drown themselves were envied.”5 Starvation occurred whether the slaves wanted it or not. The captains failed to supply the ships with food in order to make more room for bodies. Sanitation of the ships were horrible. Blood, feces, and decomposing bodies layered the floors beneath the slaves. The smell mixed with the humid weather was so putrefying that crew members neglected cleaning it all together, avoiding their duty for up to 12 weeks. Slaves were forced to dance for the sailors, which not only provided entertainment for the repulsive crew, but they wanted to build the strength of the weaken slaves, so they could stay profitable. While still chained, they slaves would dance until their flesh became raw from the friction of the iron shackled at their necks and ankles. The slaves that did not participate were beaten with whips made of tar.

Slaves did in fact revolt against the crew members, even though it was considered a form a suicide because the slaves were outnumbered, not by people but in weapons. Sailors used guns, knifes and whips to maintain control of the cabins. The Amistad, a slave ship, is know for its take-over by free Africans that were kidnapped to be enslaved. The leader of the 50 Africans was named led by the Mende warrior Singbe-Piéh. They were not familiar with the navigation of the seas and arrived in New York, instead of going back to Africa. Slave revolts were raley succeful, but in the case of the Amistad rebellion, the slaves found justice, due to John Quincy Adams, whom declared, “ The charge I make against the present Executive Administration is that in all their proceedings relating to these unfortunate men, instead of that Justice to which they were bound not less than this honorable court itself to observe, they have substituted Sympathy: -- Sympathy with one of the parties in this conflict of justice and Antipathy to the other. Sympathy with the white. Antipathy to the black."4 Singbe-Piéh was returned back to Africa, which was something extraordinary. Africans fought insanely for their lives. They had nothing to lose after their humanity was taken from them. Branded with the scars of enslavement, Black Americans were able to rise above the humiliation, torture and sufferance. They were able to become a society many thought would never flourish into anything. The political and economic odds that once heavily weighed African-Americans down, has manifest into the democracy that is here today.

Works Cited

1."Aboard a Slave Ship, 1829." EyeWitness to History - history through the eyes of those who lived it. Web. 22 Nov. 2009. http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/slaveship.htm.
5."Africans in America/Part 1/Olaudah Equiano." PBS. Web. 21 Nov. 2009. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p276.html>.
4."Amistad Slave Revolt Case Documents." Paperless Archives. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. http://www.paperlessarchives.com/amistad.html.
2.Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History, Seagull Edition, Volume 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 2005. Print.
3."Juneteenth.com - The Middle Passage - Tom Feelings." Juneteenth World Wide Celebration. Web. 21 Nov. 2009. .

Harriet Jacobs: Life After Book

"White abolitionist propaganda in the antebellum era only rarely discussed how slave women resisted sexual exploitation. Jacobs was a woman motivated by a desire for freedom much stronger than a fear of sexual retribution" (1)


Harriet Jacobs contributed to American society beyond her controversial expose of autobiographical works. She was apart of the reform movement to abolish slavery and disclose the myths about the state of submission. For Jacobs, writing was more than sharing her story as a former slave; a way to cleanse herself from the abuse and torture in the hands of her former master Norcom. It was a desperate plea to end all suffering in the hands of someone having the authority over another. She also further the progression of women's rights for enslaved black women in the south. She "especially intended to get people to understand the horrors of slavery for women. Jacobs achieved her goal by seeking to touch the hearts of Northern white women and accordingly, wrote to the extent possible in their idiom."(2). After her book, she continued to struggle for African American rights because these privileges were indeed entiled theirs.Besides her major literary contributions, Jacobs achieved greater heights with communities. She was a member of various groups which included the Female Anti-Slavery Society, and spent most of her lifetime volunteering to refugees from the civil war. She continued to write and advocate the seriousness of the relief that was needed for poor free blacks. In August 1862, Jacobs worked in Alexandria, VA where she organized relief efforts for the hungry and "operated a boardinghouse that catered to students and faculty at Harvard University"(5). Jacobs wrote to William Lloyd Garrison whom was well known for his abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator ; DEAR MR. GARRISON:" Let me beg the reader's attention to these orphans. They are the innocent and helpless of God's poor. If you cannot take one, you can do much by contributing your mite to the institution that will open its doors to receive them... I found men, women and children all huddled together, without any distinction or regard to age or sex. Some of them were in the most pitiable condition. Many were sick with measles, diphtheria, scarlet and typhoid fever. Some had a few filthy rags to lie on; others had nothing but the bare floor for a couch"(3). Barracks were built to honor her request and the government recognized the issue of their living conditions, and in 1863 Harriet also established The Jacobs Free School in Alexandria, providing black teachers for the refugees. In December 1864, Alexandria School received donations to help provide for the children along with monetary donations they received; books, slates, and writing materials. She also helped establish the National Association of Colored Women and continued to fight for the rights of African Americans engaging them to fight for better wages and land. Harriet died on March 7, 1897, at the age of 84. She is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.Her grave stone reads"Patient in tribulation, fervent in spirit serving the Lord."
Rewards......
Jacobs would not be fully rewarded until 1987, when Dr. Yellin, a professor of English published an edition of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl with Harvard University Press. Yellin issued the print of Harriet Jacobs story that featured chronicled descriptions of Jacobs' remarkable passage across advocating freedom in nineteenth century America. Her memoir has won the respectable Frederick Douglass Book Prize given by Yale University's Gilder Lehrman Center for its examination and analysis of slavery, resistance, and abolition. The documents which included letters to the other abolitionist, friends and family was collected, and consists of approximately one thousand documents. Over three hundred will be included in the published Papers, along with a numerous amount of others that was incorporated into the documents. "To this day, Harriet Jacobs is the only African-American woman held in slavery whose papers are known to exist" (4).

Work Cited:
5."AAWW Biographies." NYPL, Digital Collections. Web. 21 Oct. 2009. http://digital.nypl.org/schomburg/writers_aa19/bio2.html.

1. "Harriet A. Jacobs (Harriet Ann), 1813-1897." Documenting the American South homepage. Web. 21 Oct. 2009. http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/jacobs/bio.html

2."Harriet Jacobs." The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Web. 21 Oct. 2009. http://www.unc.edu/~ptracy/HarrietJacobsPage.htm.

3."Harriet Jacobs: Selected Writings and Correspondence." Yale University. Web. 21 Oct. 2009. http://www.yale.edu/glc/harriet/docs.htm.

4. Harriet Jacobs Papers Project. Web. 21 Oct. 2009. http://harrietjacobspapers.org/.

Harriet Jacob: An Authentic Truth

There was a conspiracy of silence on the slavery issue. And one of the first things abolitionists had to do was put the issue on the table in a way that it couldn't be ignored. Or as Wendell Phillips said, our enemy is not the slaveowner only, it's also the person of good will who simply doesn't want to talk about slavery. . . .
Eric Foner, Historian (4)
Slave narratives are written accounts of enslaved Africans that were brought to America on colonial slave ships. There have been many former slave whom have testified their records of isolation, violence , and living conditions. Most former slaves were interviewed by someone who worked for an administration of some kind, like the Federal Writers Project. Not to get confused with Harriet Tubman; famous for the underground rail road, but there is another woman named Harriet. Harriet Jacobs was born in 1813 in Edenton, North Carolina and was born into slavery. What makes her narrative different from all the rest is that her accounts were written by herself. Her autobiography was the first slave narrative ever published by a women. In 1858, she had finished the manuscript of her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Due to the publishers Thayer and Eldridge going bankrupt, the book was published three years later in 1861. Her autobiographic story is most significant because there are only two other slave autobiographies, and they are by Frederick Douglass and Nat Turner.

Uncovering Truth..............

In Harriet's novel she exposes the truth about how she was sexual abused by her white master; an issue most denied. She exploits her living conditions by stating "I HARDLY expect that the reader will credit me, when I affirm that I lived in that little dismal hole, almost deprived of light and air, and with no space to move my limbs, for nearly seven years. But it is a fact; and to me a sad one, even now; for my body still suffers from the effects of that long imprisonment.(1) At six years old Harriet and her sibling's moved in with their grandmother, whom also was a slave. Harriet's grandmother's mistress taught Harriet how to read and sew and after her grandmothers Mistress died, Harriet used her new found skills of literacy to later recall her days spent with her new owner Dr. Norcom at fifteen "He tried his utmost to corrupt the pure principles my grandmother had instilled. He peopled my young mind with unclean images, such as only a vile monster could think of. I turned from him with disgust and hatred. But he was my master, I was compelled to live under the same roof with him -- where I saw a man forty years my senior daily violating the most sacred commandments of nature. He told me I was his property; that I must be subject to his will in all things. ... But where could I turn for protection? No matter whether the slave girl be as black as ebony or as fair as her mistress. In either case, there is no shadow of law to protect her from insult, from violence, or even from death... "(1) In 1842 Harriet planned for her getaway from Norcom and escaped from her inborn slavery. She was a fugitive on the run with an reward out for capture. The runaway Notice read as followed:

$100 dollars will be given for the apprehension and delivery of my Servant Girl HARRIET. She is a light mulatto, 21 years of age, about 5 feet 4 inches high, of a thick and corpulent habit, having on her head a thick covering of black hair that curls naturally, but which can be easily combed straight. She speaks easily and fluently, and has an agreeable carriage and address. Being a good seamstress, she has been accustomed to dress well, has a variety of very fine clothes, made in the prevailing fashion, and will probably appear, if abroad, tricked out in gay and fashionable finery. As this girl absconded from the plantation of my son without any known cause or provocation, it is probable she designs to transport herself to the North. The above reward, with all reasonable charges, will be given for apprehending her, or securing her in any prison or jail within the U. States. All persons are hereby forewarned against harboring or entertaining her, or being in any way instrumental in her escape, under the most rigorous penalties of the law. JAMES NORCOM.(4)

The escape.....................

Harriet was never seen again by Dr. Norcom and found having two children with a white attorney that ended up giving their children away to work as servants. She found her children and moved to New York where she decided to become public and being a fugitive slave mother once freed in 1852. "Praised by the antislavery press in the United States and Great Britain, Incidents was quickly overshadowed by the gathering clouds of civil war in America. Never reprinted in Jacob's lifetime"(3) While in New York Jacobs worked with other abolitionist closely linked to Fredrick Douglas paper, The North Star. She was convince by the friends she had met in the north to tell her story. Her " primary motive in writing Incidents was to address white women of the North on behalf of thousands of "Slave mothers that are still in bondage" in the South.(3) Jacobs wanted to expose the truth and nothing less than that. She wanted to tell her whole story from beginning to end starting from her childhood to her abuse at the hands of Dr. Norcom, to her preparations to escape. Her book will remain one of the most original dialogs about the sexual aggravation and belittlement experienced by slave women; a matter that made countless abolitionists enraged and indignant.

Life after book............

Work Cited:

"Africans in America Teacher's Guide - Part 4 Lesson Focus." PBS. Web. 18 Sept. 2009. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/tguide/4tgfocus.html. (4)

"Chapter 29." American Studies @ The University of Virginia. Web. 18 Sept. 2009. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/JACOBS/hjch29.htm. (1)

"Harriet Jacobs." Spartacus Educational - Home Page. Web. 16 Sept. 2009. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Sjacobs.htm. (2)

"Library of Southern Literature homepage." Documenting the American South homepage. Web. 16 Sept. 2009. http://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/index.html. (3)