The Middle Passage

The Middle Passage: Key aspects of the Middle Passage and early slavery in the Americas. Include seasoning, the church's view of slavery, and slave codes of the 1680's Virginia.

From the middle of the 1400's all the way to the middle of the 1600's there was a trading path that took place known as the triangular trade. The triangular trade took part in three different areas of world. These three were Europe, Africa, and America. The journey from Africa to the Americas was known as the Middle Passage. It was known for its harsh transportation of slaves from one country to the other. Slaves ranging in numbers from 500 to 600 would be packed into a ship to make the trip. Slaves were jammed into ships and were only given 13 inches or less of space. The conditions during the journey were very brutal which led to many slaves dying or committing suicide. They had little ventilation, were poorly fed, and fecal matter was not properly disposed of which led to diseases. The dead were often thrown off the ship into the ocean. Other captured slaves would try to kill themselves by starving or jumping overboard due to lost their lost freedom and lost hope. When the ships arrived to the Americas only around 450 slaves would have survived the journey. This is only a little of the suffering African Americans went through during this time period.

Once the slaves arrived in America they were often put up for sale or auction. Sellers would lather their bodies in lard to make them look shiny and buyers would often check out the slaves for any injuries or defects. Some would go to the extent of looking in their mouths to count their teeth to figure out their age. This is the same method that is used with many animals. In this time the slaves were known as property or chattel and were often bought and sold more than once leaving them no option of staying with their family. Once owners purchased the slaves they often "seasoned" them by breaking their will to let the slaves know who they obeyed. Slaves were renamed and beat until they were "seasoned" properly. Some slaves were even lynched as examples of the damage the owner can convey. In the 1680's there were laws called "slaves codes" that reflected the racism and brutal treatment towards slaves. Many of the laws included severe punishment towards disobedient slaves. Some of the other laws were made to prevent the freedom of the African Americans. These are laws like "baptism does not bring freedom to blacks" and "Servant for life: the normal condition judged for blacks." Even some of the churches in America tried to take away from the African Americans. The churches tried to uproot the Africans rituals or beliefs to take away their hope. Once they did this they tried to instill their own Christianity into them. But not all churches in America had the same view. Some groups took a stand against it and one of these groups