Wednesday, December 18, 2013

WHOLE TRUTH of SLAVERY in the Americas #5

Continuing with Professor Eakin's  lecture  from  his  24  lectures  on  "The  Conquest  of  the  Americas"

NOW  THE  JOURNEY  ACROSS  THE  ATLANTIC  HAS  OFTEN  BEEN  CALLED "THE  MIDDLE  PASSAGE."  AND  I  ALWAYS  SAY  THIS  IS  BEYOND  THE  COMPREHENSION  OF  US  IN  THE  EARLY  21ST  CENTURY.  THERE  IS  NO  WAY  WE  CAN  UNDERSTAND  WHAT  IT  WAS  LIKE  TO  BE  BROUGHT  ACROSS  THE  ATLANTIC  IN  THE  HULLS  OF  THESE  SLAVE  SHIPS.

ABOUT  THE  CLOSEST  WE  GET  TO  THIS  ON  FILMS  IS  THE  RECENT  MOVIE  BY STEVEN  SPIELBERG'S  MOVIE  CALLED  "AMISTAD."  I  ALWAYS  COMPARE  IT  TO  THE  HOLOCAUST.  IF  WE  REALLY  SAW  ON  FILM  HOW  BRUTAL  AND  GRAPHIC  THIS  WAS,  WE  WOULD  NOT  BE  ABLE  TO  WATCH  IT.

WE  DO  HAVE  SOME  CLASSIC  ACCOUNTS  OF  THIS  PROCESS.  TWO  SLAVES  WRITE  ABOUT  THEIR  EXPERIENCES.

GUSTAVUS  VASSA  BETTER  KNOWN  TODAY  BY  HIS  AFRICAN  NAME  OLAUDAH EQUIMANO  -  WAS  BORN  1745  AND  WAS  CAPTURED  WHAT  TODAY  IS  EASTERN  NIGERIA.  HE  TRAVELS  TO  THE  WEST-INDIES  AND  IS  SOLD  AS   A  SLAVE  THERE.  BUT  HE  EVENTUALLY  TRAVELS  ACROSS  THE  ENTIRE  ATLANTIC  WORLD.  HIS  OWNER  IS  A  NAVAL  OFFICER  IN  THE  BRITISH  NAVY,  AND  HE  TRAVELS  WITH  HIM  THROUGHOUT  THE  ATLANTIC  AND  CARIBBEAN   AND  INTO  BRITISH  NORTH  AMERICA,  HE  LIVES  IN  ENGLAND.  HE  BECOMES  IN  FACT  BRITISH.  HE  IS  CULTURALLY  TRANSFORMED.  HIS  BOOK,  HIS  AUTOBIOGRAPHY WHICH  IS  CALLED  "THE  INTERESTING  NARRATIVE",  APPEARED  IN  ENGLAND  IN  1789;  IT  IS  STILL  IN  PRINT  AND  STILL  WIDELY  READ.

MAHOMMAM  BEQUAQUA  IS  FROM  AN  AREA  AROUND  THE  UPPER  BOLTAR  RIVER  IN  WEST  AFRICA.  HE'S  CAPTURED  AND  SHIPPED  TO  BRAZIL  IN  THE  1840s.  HE'S  FREED  AFTER  HIS  BRAZILIAN  MERCHANT  VESSEL  STOPS  IN  NEW  YORK.

BOTH  OF  THESE  NARRATIVES  PROVIDE  THE  TYPICAL  EXPERIENCE,  TO  THE  MOMENT  OF  CAPTURE,  TO  THE  TRANSPORTING  ACROSS  THE  ATLANTIC,  AND  WHAT  LIFE  IS  LIKE  AFTERWARDS  FOR  MANY  OF  THESE  SLAVES.

NOW  SLAVERY  HAS  EXISTED  IN  AFRICA  BEFORE  THE  EUROPEANS  HAD  ARRIVED.  BUT  THE  AFRICANS  DO  NOT  HAVE  THE  SAME  NOTION  OF  SLAVERY  AS  THE  EUROPEANS.  THERE  IS  NO  CONCEPT  OF  PRIVATE  PROPERTY,  AND  IN  THIS  SENSE  SLAVES  ARE  NOT  "CHATTEL  SLAVES"  WHERE  PROPERTY  IS  OWNED  AND  TRANSFERRED  BY  INDIVIDUALS.  THERE  IS  A  MUCH  MORE  "COLLECTIVE"  BELONGING.  SLAVERY  IS  NOT  A  PERPETUAL  STATE,  PASSED  ON  THROUGH  GENERATIONS.

BUT  INDIVIDUALS  ARE  CAPTURED  IN  WARFARE;  THEY  ARE  SOLD  OR  RANSOMED,  AND  THESE  CAPTURED  TRAVEL  GREAT  DISTANCES,  OFTEN  FROM THE  INTERIOR,  CHANGING  HANDS  MANY  TIMES  BEFORE  REACHING  THE  COAST.

AT  THE  END  OF  THIS  JOURNEY  IN  AFRICA,  THEY  ARRIVE  ON  THE  COAST.  OFTEN  SEEING  THE  OCEAN  FOR  THE  FIRST  TIME  IN  THEIR  LIVES.  CERTAINLY  SEEING  EUROPEANS  FOR  THE  FIRST  TIME  IN  THEIR  LIVES.  THEY  ARRIVE  AT  PLACES  LIKE  WHAT  TODAY  IS  GHANA,  RWANDA,  ANGOLA,  AND  THEY  ARE  PLACED  IN  PENS;  THEY  ARE  BRANDED,  AND  IF  IN  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  POSSESSION,  NOMINALLY  BAPTIZED.

(YES,  WE  SEE  SOME  OF  THIS  SLAVERY  DONE  UNDER  THE  NAME  OF  "CHRISTIANITY"  -  WHAT  HAS  BEEN  DONE  OVER  THE  CENTURIES  IN  THE  NAME  OF  GOD  AND  CHRIST  IS  TRULY  SHOCKING;  BOTH  CATHOLIC  AND  PROTESTANT  CHURCHES  HAVE  SINNED  GREATLY  -  Keith  Hunt)

BEQUAQUA  LEAVES  US  A  GRAPHIC  DESCRIPTION  OF  THIS  PROCESS  WHEN  HE  SAYS:

"THE  SLAVES  WERE  ALL  PUT  INTO  A  PEN  AND  PLACED  WITH  THEIR  BACKS  TO  A  FIRE,  IN  ORDER  TO  NOT  LOOK  ABOUT  US.  AND  TO  ENSURE  OBEDIENCE  A  MAN  WAS  PLACED  IN  FRONT  WITH  A  WHIP  IS  HIS  HAND  READY  TO  STRIKE  THE  FIRST  TO  DISOBEY.  ANOTHER  MAN  WENT  ABOUT  WITH  A  HOT  IRON,  AND  BRANDED  US,  THE  SAME  AS  THEY  WOULD  THE  HEAD  OF  A  BARREL,  OR  ANY  OTHER  INANIMATE  GOODS  OR  MERCHANDISE.  WHEN  WE  WERE  ALL  READY  TO  GO  ABOARD  THE  SHIP  WE  WERE  ALL  CHAINED  TOGETHER  AND  TIED  WITH  ROPES  AROUND  OUR  NECKS,  AND  WERE  THUS  DRAWN  TO  THE  SEA  SHORE."

..........

TO  BE  CONTINUED

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