Trans-Atlantic Passage: The People and the Pain
By Dorothy L.W. Dobson

Overview

This lesson will give students the chance to explore the people involved in the Atlantic Slave Trade, which resulted in the enslavement of 12-13 million Africans between the early 1400s and the late 1800s. Using the Atlantic Slave Trade map as a starting point, the lesson will focus on those who were directly involved in the Trans-Atlantic Passage. The class will be divided into pairs to research the roles listed below. Pretending that everyone involved spoke the English language, student pairs will write a short dialogue between the person that they have researched and a slave affected by that person’s actions. In this dialogue, they will attempt to describe the point of view and emotions of BOTH persons. Students will also have an opportunity to explore artwork and literature related to the role that they are researching. This lesson is applicable at many grade levels, with each level delving into the subject at a depth that is developmentally appropriate.

Curriculum Standards

For a list of standards that this unit addresses, click here.

Time required

Two hours, as follows:

• Part 1: 30 minutes--Anticipatory Set
• Part 2: 60 minutes--Group Division, research, and writing of short piece
• Part 3: 30 minutes--Presentation of group pieces / Discussion

Note: You may extend the lesson time by having students participate in the extension activities. Or, you may shorten the lesson time by specifying the research materials students should use.

Materials

• Copy of Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
• Paper and pencil
• Research materials listed under listed under each role in the Procedures section that follows.
• Access to or printed copies of web pages at the following web sites (you may decide whether students should access the information themselves online or whether you will provide student pairs print-outs from the websites):


• http://www2.bc.edu
• http://www.poets.org
• SlaveryinAmerica.org Slave Ports Map
• http://www.umich.edu
• http://www.africanhistory.about.com
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia
• http://www.historyonthenet.com
• http://www.scc.rutgers.edu
• http://lcweb.loc.gov
• http://www.uncp.edu


• Additional materials, as you need for students pursuing extension activities.

The Lesson

Anticipatory Set

1. As you begin the lesson, consider dimming the lights to simulate not only the darkness in the holding area of a slave ship, but also the figurative darkness of this historical event. Share with students these two images from the slaveryinamerica.org Image Gallery (click images to enlarge). Then, tell the students that these were two ways slaves were arranged as "cargo" in the hold of the ship.



2. Next, share the story line of Slave Dancer by Paula Fox with the class. You should then read to them the following passage from the book, in which young Jessie, who has lost the pipe he uses to "dance" the slaves for exercise on their voyage across the Atlantic, is ordered into the hold to find it:

"You’ll climb down as I want you to," he said. "And you’ll look here and there until you find your pipe. After that, we can get on with things." As he spoke, he slowly brought me back to the deck. I caught sight of a black face turned up toward the light. The man blinked his eyes, but there was no surprise written on his face. He had only looked up to see what was to befall him next. I went down the rope knowing my boots would strike living bodies. There was not an inch of space for them to move to.

I sank down among them as though I had been dropped into the sea. I heard groans, the shifting of shackles, the damp sliding whisper of sweating arms and legs as the slaves tried desperately to curl themselves even tighter. I did not know my eyes were shut until fingers brushed my cheeks. I saw a man’s face not a foot from my own. I saw every line, every ridge, a small scar next to one eyebrow, the inflamed lids of his eyes. He was trying to force his knees closer to his chin, to gather himself up like a ball on top of the cask upon which he lived. I saw how ash-colored his knees were, how his swollen calves narrowed nearly to bone down where the shackles had cut his ankles, how the metal had cut red trails into his flesh.

All around me, bodies shifted in exhausted movement. I was a stone cast into a stream, making circles that widened all the way to the limits of the space that contained nearly forty people.

Suddenly I felt myself dropping, and I heard the wooden thunk of the two casks, which I had, somehow, been straddling. Now I was wedged between them, my chin pressed against my chest. I could barely draw breath, and what breath I drew was horrible, like a solid substance, like suet, that did not free my lungs but drowned them in the taste of rancid rot. I tried to bend back my head, and I caught a blurred glimpse of Stout’s face in the white sunlight above. With what I was sure was the last effort of my life, I heaved up the upper part of my body, but my legs had no leverage. I sank down. I began to choke.

3. Initiate a discussion about how it would have felt to be forced into Jessie’s situation. Then, shift the focus to how it would have felt to be one of the slaves in the hold of the ship. Point out that the voyage to America took 40–60 days, depending on the weather. Ask students what questions they think the slaves would have asked the ship’s captain if they had been able to do so. Write down some of these questions as they suggest them. Tell them that these types of questions will be the basis of their research assignment.



4. You may also choose to read a poem about slavery or an excerpt from a book other than the one provided from Slave Dancer. Students can find such examples at these web pages:


• http://www2.bc.edu/~richarad/asp/atln.html
• http://www2.bc.edu/~richarad/asp.html
• http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?45442B7C000C0E01 (Langston Hughes)
• http://www.poets.org/exh/Exhibit.cfm?prmID=7 (Other poets of the Harlem Renaissance)

Procedures

1. Pair Assignment, research, and writing of short dialogues:


1. Have students study the map on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade so they can see the big picture. You can initiate discussion by looking at the start points and destinations. You also can generate further discussion about European holdings or negotiations with local tribes by looking more closely at the West African Slave Ports.



2. Divide students into pairs. Then, have each pair research one of the four roles listed below and, working together, write a short dialogue that might have taken place between the captured African and the other party if both had been able to speak English. You can guide students to resources listed underneath each role to aid them in creating their pieces. If the groups do not have ready access to the Internet, you may decide to print the necessary information for students.


• The African, who was also a Slave Trader and who captured other Africans as slaves and took them to the African coast:


• http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/slavery2/collection.html
• http://africanhistory.about.com/library/weekly/aa080601a.htm
• "African Slave Traders"


• Those who ran the forts:


• http://africanhistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fvi.uh.edu%2Fpages%2Fmintz%2F7.htm
• http://vi.uh.edu/pages/mintz/1.htm
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p272.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p260.html


• The Captain of the Ship:


• http://www.umich.edu/~ece/student_projects/slavery2/collection.html
• http://africanhistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fvi.uh.edu%2Fpages%2Fmintz%2F7.htm
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1i3002.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p275.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h280.html


• The Slave Trader in America:


• http://vi.uh.edu/pages/mintz/15.htm
• http://www.historyonthenet.com/Slave_Trade/slave_auction.htm
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h304.html


3. Make sure that students know their dialogues should represent the emotions of BOTH parties involved in these historical episodes. Remind them that those who acted upon the Africans had their own realities, which justified, in their minds, their actions. Although this behavior is unacceptable by today’s standards (and definitely to this author), students must understand that those acting upon Africans did not believe they were acting unsuitably. Equally or more important, students must also be able to identify with the Africans who were acted upon, in the hope that they will never instigate or condone any similar occurrence themselves.


2. Presentation of Dialogues/Discussion: At the end of the allotted time for creating the dialogues, reconvene the class. In chronological order, ask pairs to present their pieces. Following the presentations, have the class discuss what they’ve heard and their feelings about the material.

Assessment

Use the rubric below to grade the assignment. You may give additional points for extra work students do, as suggested in the Interdisciplinary Links and Extension Activities section below.

Interdisciplinary Links and Extension Activities

A number of activities, of which the following are just a sampling, would lend themselves nicely to study of the Trans-Atlantic Passage. The Teacher Guide section of the PBS "Africans in America" web site http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia is an excellent source teachers can use to generate further ideas.

• Mathematics: Many activities could be designed to look at the number of slaves per ship. Using discussions and mathematics, students could explore the decision many slave ship captains made to pack their ships heavily with slaves to make up for those who would die. Conversely, the decision to carry a heavy load of slaves also led to more deaths than would have occurred if captains ensured that their "cargo" was treated more humanely.


• Students could explore mileage charts on maps showing the Triangular Trade Route.


• Art: Students could research individual photographs and paintings, as well as collections with a wide variety of material at the sites below:


• http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/print/082_slave.html
• http://gropius.lib.virginia.edu/Slavery
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h322.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h297.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h296.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h321.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h290.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h287.html
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h280.html

They could also create original material after researching these materials.


• Poetry: Students could explore poetry about the slave trade at the PBS web page: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1h296.html or by going to the poetry links listed in the "Anticipatory Set" section.

This lesson was created by Dorothy Dobson, a teacher in Logan, Utah.

From: http://www.uncp.edu/home/berrys/courses/hist101/hist101_lecture_notes.html

Within Africa itself, slavery had existed for centuries. It was accepted, there as elsewhere, without question as a part of human organization and as just another sign and method of accumulating wealth. One became a slave by being an outsider or an infidel, by being captured in war, by transgressing the laws of one's society, or by selling oneself into bondage to make money for one's family.

For centuries, African societies had been involved in an overland slave trade that transported black slaves from West Africa across the Sahara to the Roman Empire and the Middle East. When the Portuguese made landfall on the west coast of Africa in the 1440s, then slaves were just another commodity the Africans traded with their new European trading partners.

The Atlantic slave trade was of only minor commercial importance until European expansion to the New World created a vast shortage of labor. The Spanish needed miners to work the gold and silver deposits of South and Central America. Then, the Spanish, Dutch, and English needed agricultural slaves to work sugar, rice, and tobacco plantations.

This new demand for laborers dramatically changed the tempo and character of the Atlantic slave trade. Where before Africans had sold into slavery criminals or captives taken in war, now they went out actively to capture huge cargoes of what came to be called "black gold." Thus began the largest forced migration in human history, as over the next four centuries, 12 million Africans were dragged from their homes to work the brutal plantations of the New World.

It is impossible now to imagine what it would have been like to have been captured and sold into this new form of slavery. The first shock usually came when African slave traders attacked a village at night, setting fire to huts, killing any [people] who resisted, and yoking the remainder together in neck braces of wood and leather.

___________________________________________
Researched Role

Roles	Stated Clearly		Understood		Unclear
Event	Stated clearly		Understood		Unclear
Location	Stated clearly		Understood		Unclear
Others involved	Stated clearly		Understood		Unclear
Emotions	Stated clearly		Understood		Unclear
Reasons for emotions	Stated clearly		Understood		Unclear		GRAND TOTAL
Hopes	Stated clearly		Understood		Unclear
Total Points	3 Points		2 Points		1 Point		/21