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Luisa Valdez

Professor Parris

AAS 235

11 October 2021

The Middle Passage

One of the most well-known trading routes from the 16th to 19th centuries was the

Triangular Trade route, where Africa, Europe, and the New World (Western Hemisphere) traded

goods and people. The transportation of enslaved people was mainly done through a route known

as the Middle Passage, through which Africans were forcibly transported to the Caribbean and

North America. The Middle Passage was not only the distance traveled from the coastlines of

Western African nations to the western hemisphere; it also included the enslavement of the

African people and the selling of them. The Middle Passage depicts the resistance of African

enslaved people, despite the dehumanization and suffering they underwent during the slave trade.

Before the ship left the harbors of Africa, enslaved Africans were already experiencing

dehumanization. When captured, enslavers stripped Africans of all tribal jewelry, branded, and

chained by their hands and/or feet. In Women’s Resistance in the Middle Passage: A Story Lost

at Sea, Molly Morgan further explains“[C]aptives were stripped of any physical connections to

their past lives, their heads were shaved, and their clothing and adornments removed. Denying

captives these personal and cultural identifiers began the process by which slaves were

systematically dehumanized.” Though many may think little of the removal of jewelry, the

process forced enslaved Africans to lose parts of their cultural identity. Erasing enslaved people’s

cultural ties resulted in a disconnection from their identity, making it easier for colonizers to

dehumanize them. To add on, the treatment of enslaved Africans greatly resembles that of
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animals. Animals like cattle are often branded as a sign of ownership. Thus, enslaved people

were made to realize their status as property through branding, further dehumanizing Africans.

The conditions of ships during the Middle Passage were another form of dehumanization.

Although the conditions of enslaved on ships during the journey to the West are simplified, most

African history scholars describe it as an abyss. An abyss is a bottomless pit of hell. Since slave

traders filled ships with many more people than they were made for, the enslaved were stacked

on top of each other with “only four or five feet in length and two or three feet in height, so that

they could neither lie at full length nor sit upright.” (James 8) This was not only uncomfortable

but also unsanitary, with feces, urine, and vomit all over the floors. Rodents crawled all over the

ship. (Deslauriers, The Middle Passage) These conditions resulted in many enslaved people

getting sick and physically debilitated. To add on, the unsanitary environment further

dehumanized enslaved people. By treating them as not worthy of personal space and clean space,

slaves were forced to believe that they were less than. This further explains why some Africana

scholars describe the Middle Passage as an abyss. The combination of hundreds of people

packed in a small area, poor ventilation, and body wastes resulted in extreme humidity and

strong odors. This further reinforces the idea that the middle passage was an abyss, as there was

no exit to the terrible conditions.

Another form of dehumanization used by sailors was withholding proper burial rites and

rituals to enslaved Africans. Unlike sailors, who were given honorary burials, enslaved people

that died on the ship were often thrown off the ship, as one would do with cargo. (Deslauriers,

The Middle Passage) Since slaves were not seen as humans, sailors did not care about giving

them funeral rites. To make matters worse, sailors would throw slaves off-board while alive,

whether it was because they were sick or as a punishment. For example, in the Zong trial, it was
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revealed that sailors threw slaves off knowing that they would be covered by insurance

companies. (“The Zong”) Insurers believed that sailors would only throw slaves off during an

insurrection, but this case proved the contrary. To sailors, the enslaved were not people and their

lives did not matter, instead, they were seen as merchandise and a means of maximizing profits.

In spite of the treacherous conditions they faced, enslaved Africans resisted in several

ways. One of the well-known ways of resistance was suicide. Although committing suicide

seems like “the easy way out,” it was an act of self-determination and freedom. Many enslaved

people believed this would be the only way to return to their motherland in spirits. It was a way

to take the power back over their lives. Less mentioned are revolts on ships. According to The

Middle Passage, enslaved people were forced to go on the deck and dance. This was mainly

done to preserve the health of slaves, to some extent. But in some instances, like after several

slaves were thrown off the ship, the enslaved planned rebellions against the sailors. For example,

“They undertook vast hunger strikes; undid their chains and hurled themselves on the crew in

futile attempts at insurrection.” (James 9) These generally failed because slaves were unarmed

and chained, but they kept crew members in fear. It is evident that though enslavers belittled

enslaved people, they recognized their great power, because crew members were armed and in

power in many other ways and still feared slaves. Based on the Eurocentric historical

perspective, enslaved Africans were docile and passive and easily submitted to European

enslavement, which is clearly incorrect. (Forbes 43)Thus, the revolts on slave ships are crucial to

a complete understanding of enslavement and the uplift of the racial esteem of Afro-descendants.

The HBO film, The Middle Passage, depicts the experience of enslavement from the

capturing of slaves to reaching the port, capturing the dehumanization of enslaved Africans.

Despite the horrid conditions, Africans were able to resist in different ways, including revolts
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and suicide. This educative film contrasts the single narrative that is often taught in history

classes and is key to acknowledging the past.

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Works Cited

Forbes, Ella. “African Resistance to Enslavement: The Nature and the Evidentiary Record.”

Journal of Black Studies, vol. 23, no. 1, Sage Publications, Inc., 1992, pp. 39–59,

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2784672.

James, CLR. The Black Jacobins. Secker & Warburg Ltd., 1938.

Morgan, Molly. “Women's Resistance in the Middle Passage: A Story Lost at Sea.” Mapping

Women's Lives - The Middle Passage,

https://www.albany.edu/faculty/jhobson/wss308/middlepassage.html.

The Middle Passage. Directed by Guy Deslauriers. 2001.

The Zong, http://websites.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/slavery/the_zong.html.