TASK: In pairs or threes, read each other's memoir (like a diary written when you are older looking back at your life) entry on the middle passage.
Sum up what you have learnt from this, and identify anything else you think should be covered in the memoir.
Comment on how convincing you think the memoir entry is: does it read like it is written by a desparate, terrified, confused young boy/girl who has been grabbed from their village, marched in chains to the dock and thrown on a boat, crammed in amongst 100s of others, with little food or water, no toilet, and people dying around them ... all while not really knowing where they are going?
Take notes on the feedback you receive; you will be re-drafting your memoir entry.
Use the remaining time to take notes from the resources below, some of which we will use in the next lesson. Note points which you can use to make your memoir more convincing and detailed.
THE MEMOIR
This topic is assessed through a memoir you write as we go along. Your entries need to reflect what you've learned, and can include quotes from specific sources that you (as the slave) may have encountered. As it is a memoir, you could also reflect on events or opinions that occur a little later than each stage, as you are looking back on your life in 1865...
POWERPOINTS
CLICK READ MORE BELOW TO ACCESS THESE!
READ MORE
There are many good resources to enable you to research further, and make your diary richer, more detailed and come to life.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
Previous generations might have gone to a collection of large-size books to look this up; now you can find a good summary online. Take this extract, have you included any detail like this in your diary?
BBC BITESIZE ON THE MIDDLE PASSAGE
Use the other links to find more; this is on the horrible conditions. You could use the extract below to reflect on how things changed a little as Europeans began to question this trade and the brutal conditions of it - though this didn't save you from a horrific experience.
BBC KS3 BITESIZE - SLAVE TRADE
A range of resources tracking the history of the trans-atlantic slave trade.
THE ABOLITION PROJECT
Gathers together resources including re-enacted audio recordings of memoirs and political speeches. You should take note of the account of Olaudah Equiano:
DIGITAL HISTORY
A short but very useful overview.
Has your memoir made any reference to resistance to and rebellion (mutiny) against the slavers? Perhaps you (writing as the slave) witnessed something like this...
AFRICANS IN AMERICA
This site has some very specific sections which you can use:
US HISTORY
This site provides very useful links to more great resources, and sums up some of the conditions well.
You should decide and describe whether your slave ship was tightly or loosely packed, according to these definitions:
There is of course always the Wiki.
VIDEO RESOURCES
10-min documentary clip
This is the best of the lot, a detailed depiction that mixes quotes from historic sources, recreations, interviews with modern academics and a voiceover to link all this. The brutal reality, the use of fear as a means of controlling desparate slaves, the spread of death and disease, comes across strongly.
Animation of the middle passage by MRD Barbados
This tracks a young man taken from his village.
2min animation with titles
This uses images and scrolling titles to tell the story in just 2 minutes
TED-ED: The Atlantic Slave Trade - What Too Few Textbooks Told You by Antony Hazard
Animated illustration tracking the history and development of this trade.
Hazard notes the sad irony of this trade: African tribes and villages were keen to protect themselves from slavery, so sought out European guns ... trading slaves from other tribes or villages for these.
ROOTS
This is a classic TV series that depicted the harsh, brutal reality of the slave trade, following a character called Kunta. It is PG-rated.
Kunta sees Africans capturing Africans to sell as slaves
Kunta experiences the voyage to America
Amistad
Steven Spielberg's film is not suitable for school, though you could discuss watching it at home with your parents. The trailer below is PG (BBFC), the film itself is 15-rated.
The Slave Auctions
4:21 video
History Channel: Slave Auctions
4;26 video
...
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