From: Anonymous Six
Date: 2/7/00
Time: 11:38:15 PM
Remote Name: 165.121.87.143
Anonymous Six William Cutler History 67 02/04/00
Primary Source Assignment Slaves were brought into captivity by the means of black traders from the interior of Africa who would capture these slaves and bring them down to the coast, at times by the hundreds. On the coast they are inspected by their purchasers and sent onboard. Many of the slaves that have been brought to sale are usually those that are caught by the traders and bartered-off in exchange for rum and useless objects. On the coast they are separated by age and gender and from thereon purchased. As they are sent upon the ships they are place into small hot and humid quarters and are arranged by gender. These quarters soon become overcrowded and become hazardous to the slave’s health. In these crowded confinements their feces, stale remnants of food, insects, and the mixture of the natural body odor make for an intolerable odor, which in many cases takes the lives of many a slave who will die struggling for clean air to breath. Not only were the physical hardships overwhelming so was the idea that these people (Europeans) were going to eat them or place them in a strange land to do hard toiling labor. Many of the female’s slaves were very afraid of the traders because they were viscous sexual predators who ravished at will the women slaves. Some slaves onboard had been notified that they were going to do the work of the Europeans and were not going to suffer any hardships as long as they worked diligently. Most slaves did though carry the mentality that an unmerciful god was punishing them and so many choose death than to toil in slavery.