Transatlantic Slave Trade

1. Transatlantic Slave Trade Wendy Nelson Kauffman Teaching American History December 2, 2010

2. Student misconceptions? • How do our students envision the story of the Transatlantic slave trade?

3. How many were enslaved and where? • 12-15 million brought to the New World • UNESCO states 25-30 million

4. http://www.slaverysite.com/Body/slave_trade_1650-1860_b%20-%20www.slaveryinamerica.org.jpghttp://www.slaverysite.com/Body/slave_trade_1650-1860_b%20-%20www.slaveryinamerica.org.jpg

5. African Diaspora • Caribbean 40% • Brazil 40% • US 10% • Latin America and other 10%

6. Heterogeneous groups involved • Heterogeneous African and European population Source:http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/assessment/intro-maps.faces

7. History: not just Africans who have been enslaved • 1453 Turks capture Constantinople • 1472 Portuguese negotiate 1st slave trading agreement directly with African king’s court • 1510 King Ferdinand of Spain orders 50 African slaves to work in mines in New World • 1619 First slaves to United States

8. African Slaves to the New World • Sugar Trade in the mid 1500s • State-sponsored trading corporations • Forts established along Africa’s west coast

9. TriangularTrade

10. African Influence More than labor that built the New World • Music • Food • Language • Religion • Skills: • Agriculture (ex: rice and indigo) • Fishing • Mining • Metalwork • Traditional medicine

11. African Influence: Artifacts • Left drum: Africa in 1800s • Right drum: Virginia in 1700s Source: A People and a Nation Mary Beth Norton

12. Complexity of slave trade • Involvement of Africans • Who was enslaved in Africa? • Sierra Leone study in 1850 stated: • 30% of slaves had been kidnapped (by whom?) • 34% had been taken in war • 11% as a result of judicial process • 7% were debtors • 7% sold by relatives and superiors

13. Africans are not powerless • Africans control the interior • Europeans succumb to yellow fever, malaria, the “bloody flux” • Intermediaries negotiate trade with African kings • Insurrections & attacks Goree Island

14. Transatlantic Slave Trade ends • 1808 US ban • 1815 Congress of Vienna BUT Last enslaved Africans to United States in 1860

15. Role as teachers • How do we bring this to the present? • How do we give voice to those enslaved?

16. Goree Island CAPT • Essential Question: UNESCO decided Goree Island should be put on the World Heritage list in 1978. Was this appropriate? Why? • Virtual tour: http://webworld.unesco.org/goree/ • iEARN: internet discussion

17. UNESCO Director General Koïchiro Matsuura “UNESCO has put Gorée Island on its World Heritage List ever since 1978, and now observes, on every August 23rd, an ‘International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.’ Gorée's significance and symbolism directly concern us all.”

18. “Reconstituting the slave route is a way of recognizing the contribution of black culture to humanity” -Federico Mayor Director General UNESCO

19. Olaudah Equiano • Captured in Nigeria in 1756 at age 11 • Sold in Virginia to a British naval officer • Eventually buys his freedom and lives in England • Wrote in 1789 his autobiography • Bestseller that advances abolitionist cause

20. Museum Activity • Read the excerpt of Equiano’s autobiography • Select three significant quotes • Select the picture that would accompany that quote • As a group decide which are the best quotes and pictures to hang in our museum gallery.

21. Resources • Maps: http://www.slavevoyages.org/tast/help/sitemap.facesThe Transatlantic Slave Trade Database: Voyages from Emory University • Images: http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/Slavery/search.html

22. Why is this important? • Global diversity of people and cultural impact of slave trade • Enduring legacy of racism and discrimination • Modern day slavery still exists • Debating reparations to Africa and African-Americans • Illustrates choices humans make that affect our destiny