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."
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TO BE CONTINUED
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