[The day of the sale] many customers called to examine Freeman’s “new lot.” The latter gentleman was very loquacious, dwelling at much length upon our several good points and qualities. He would make us hold up our heads, walk briskly back and forth, while customers would feel of our hands and arms and bodies, turn us about, ask us what we could do, make us open our mouths and show our teeth, precisely as a jockey examines a horse which he is about to barter for or purchase. Sometimes a man or woman was taken back to the small house in the yard, stripped, and inspected more minutely. Scars upon a slave’s back were considered evidence of a rebellious or unruly spirit, and hurt his sale…
All the time the trade was going on, Eliza was crying aloud, and wringing her hands. She [begged] the man not to buy [her son Randall], unless he also bought her self and Emily. She promised, in that case, to be the most faithful slave that ever lived. The man answered that he could not afford it, and then Eliza burst into a paroxysm of grief, weeping plaintively. Freeman turned round to her, savagely, with his whip in his uplifted hand, ordering her to stop her noise, or he would flog her… Eliza shrunk before him, and tried to wipe away her tears, but it was all in vain. She wanted to be with her children, she said, the little time she had to live. All the frowns and threats of Freeman, could not wholly silence the afflicted mother. She kept on begging and beseeching them, most piteously not to separate the three. Over and over again she told them how she loved her boy. A great many times she repeated her former promises - how very faithful and obedient she would be; how hard she would labor day and night, to the last moment of her life, if he would only buy them all together. But it was of no avail; the man could not afford it. The bargain was agreed upon, and Randall must go alone. Then Eliza ran to him; embraced him passionately; kissed him again and again; told him to remember her - all the while her tears falling in the boy’s face like rain.
Freeman [called] her a blubbering, bawling wench, and ordered her to go to her place, and behave herself; and be somebody. He swore he wouldn’t stand such stuff but a little longer…
The planter from Baton Rouge, with his new purchases, was ready to depart.
“Don’t cry, mama. I will be a good boy. Don’t cry,” said Randall, looking back, as they passed out of the door.
What has become of the lad, God knows. It was a mournful scene indeed. I would have cried myself if I had dared.
Students will compare visual sources and quantitative data to analyze the impact of the Atlantic slave trade. Â
Step 1: Project and/or handout the diagram of the slave ship Brooks. Either silently or as a group read-aloud, students should read the description and the text from the original diagram reprinted below the image. Â Ask students to jot down their observations about the image. Students should focus on what they see and key words, rather than trying to interpret the image or make inferences. Ask student volunteers to come forward and circle or underline the most important information for understanding this document.Â
Step 2: Project T-chart. Ask for students to help answer the summary questions:
What can you infer about the transatlantic slave trade from this document?
Who created this document and why? Â
Step 3: Project and/or handout the data of the Brooks voyage. Again, ask students to jot down their observations without analyzing or making inferences. Then ask student volunteers to come forward and circle or underline the most important information for understanding the document. Ask students to answer the summary questions (above) for this document. Â
Step 4: Conclude either by discussing or having students write responses to these questions:
How are the documents related (and similar)?
What is the difference between intentional and unintentional evidence? Which of these documents is which? Â Â
Students will develop historical interpretations based on facts and inferences, and be able to describe the differences between the two.
Students will craft narratives about the journey of one ship's voyage to demonstrate their understanding of different perspectives and experiences of those involved in the slave trade.
The transatlantic slave trade began in the early 16th century, when Spanish and Portuguese merchants began purchasing African captives on the west coast of Africa and transporting them to work on plantations in the Caribbean and Americas. Two hundred years later, the English dominated the triangular trade that brought European goods to Africa, African slaves to the Americas, and American commodities back to Europe. Those involved in the trade on all three continents—ship owners, financiers, merchants, shipbuilders, and many local tradespeople who served the trade and its workers—profited politically and economically from this system. Others, including sailors and middlemen, were paid poorly and faced harsh conditions. The captives endured brutal, crowded, unsanitary conditions in which many died from disease or violent attempts to resist their captors. The British abolished the slave trade in 1808, but other European nations continued to participate and the trade did not finally cease until the middle of the 19th century. Over the nearly 400 years of the trade, an estimated 2.5 million Africans were enslaved and forcibly transported to the Americas; about 1.7 million died during the grueling "Middle Passage" across the Atlantic. Most of the enslaved went to work in the Caribbean and south America; only 4% ended up in North America.
Step 1: Divide students into three smaller groups. Assign each group a perspective on the transatlantic slave trade to represent in their narratives: Captain, Sailor, or Captive.
Step 2: Hand out the documents. In their groups, students should review the documents and discuss what information or insights each document tells about their assigned historical perspectives.
Step 3: Using evidence from the documents, each group should reconstruct the story of the Brooks voyage with a beginning, middle, and end. Each narrative should be told from the group's assigned historical perspective (Captain, Sailor, or Captive) and should address the following questions:
When and where did the voyage start for you?
Where did you go?
What happened en route?
Where and how did it end?
What did you gain or lose along the way?
Step 4: Each group should complete the "Writing History" worksheet, showing which parts of their stories are based in historical facts and which parts are historical inferences.
Step 5: Each group should select one member to narrate their story using the Atlantic World Map projected on a Smartboard or screen. As students listen to the other groups share their stories, they should jot down which facts they think were used to reconstruct the narratives.
Step 6: After each group presents, the whole class should discuss what in each story was based in facts and what was inferred or imagined from the facts. The teacher may use the Smartboard to track the discussion by highlighting evidence from the documents, making a list of inferences, etc.
Step 7: Lead the class in a comparison of the perspectives and experiences narrated in the three stories.