2. African-American Historiography
1619 â 1808: Slave Trade
1808 â mid-1800s: Africa as âDark Continentâ
1820s-1880s: Ethiopianism
1880s-1920s: Black Nationalism
A. New Negro Movement / Harlem Renaissance
B. Diasporal Studies
C. European âDiscoveryâ of African Artwork
1920s-1990s: Rise of âAfrican-American Historyâ
A. Rise of professional African-American History
B. Exploration of African past & integration with African-American History
1. Discovery of Ancient African Kingdoms (Ghana, Mali & Songhay)
2. Research on the dynamics of the slave trade
3. Exploration of African/African-American contribution to American
society & culture
4. Integration of African-American History into the larger âAmericanâ
historical narrative.
4. Transatlantic Slave Trade
Maafa: Kiswahili word meaning âdisaster,â It was introduced by activists
in the 1990s to denote the Holocaust of the slave trade, enslavement &
colonization of Africans.
The trade began in the late 1400s with the Portuguese exploration of
the West African coast. Spanish shipped first known âcargoâ of African
slaves in 1502.
From 1502 â 1867
âą ~ 10 million Africans survived the transatlantic slave trade
âą 27,000 slaving expeditions
âą Roughly 74 ships per year
âą Average of one ship every five days for 365 years
âą 2.2 million people transported prior to 1700.
âą ~ 8 million people transported between 1700 & 1810. About 80% of
the total.
âą Peaked in the 1780s, when 80,000 slaves a year were shipped across
the Atlantic.
5. The âFirst Passageâ
Capture in Africa & the march to the sea.
1. As a result of targeted raids by well-organized kingdoms upon people who
lacked well-armed rulers & armies of their own.
2. Sometimes an incidental trade. But as Europeans moved onto the coast &
built forts, the trade expanded & became an organized affair.
A, At first, the Europeans raided, but this proved too dangerousâboth
disease & geographical disadvantage made it too costly.
B. Europeans traders sought out African middlemen, tribes that were
expanding in power & began to specialize in slave-hunting: like the
Mandingo, the Imbangala or the Ashanti.
1. 3. Domestic slavery existed in West Africa. Captors preferred to keep
female slaves, so 2/3 of those transported were men.
2. Slaves were captured in from four major regions:
A. Upper Guinea (Senegambia/Sierre Leone)
B. Lower Guinea (Gold Coast / Bight of Benin
C. Bight of Biafra
D. Kongo-Angola Region
11. The âMiddle Passageâ
The transit from Africa to the Americas.
Took at least a month, sometimes several. Time of passage varied by season,
conditions & distance. Even a quick passage could be horrendous.
Horrid conditions on board the slave ships:
1. 6 to 7 square feet per passenger
2. âDecks swam in urine, feces, vomit, and menstrual & fecal blood.â
3. Severe overcrowding exacerbated communicable diseases like dysentery,
typhoid, measles, small pox, yellow fever & malaria.
4. Undernourishment & dehydration.
5. Brutality by the shipâs crew.
6. Sexual assault of the women by the shipâs crew.
7. Suicide not uncommon (Depression, shock & insanity common.)
8. Some mutinies
9. Mortality rate routinely 15-20%. (50% in the earlier years, 5% in the late
18th century. Portuguese ships had a lower mortality rate; English had
the highest.
17. âThird Passageâ
Sale in the New World.
âCleaned upâ & Presented For Sale.
1. Sold in large slave markets, slave pens, in public places. In both large lots & small.
2. Transported to final destination
3. Often separated from loved ones or friends found on-board.
4. Most slavesâupwards of 95%âwent to the Caribbean & to Brazil, to work on great sugar
plantations. Most of these workers were literally worked to death, and new âimportsâ
brought in to take their place.
5. Only around 5% of enslaved Africans ended up in British North America. Several reasons
for this:
A. Until the late 17th-century, there was no staple crop there.
B. New England was settled largely by family units who brought subsistence
agriculture with them, so plantation slavery was isolated to the Middle States & to the
South once staple crops were developed.
C. Sugar plantation owners could afford to pay more for the most âlikely lookingâ
slaves. Also, they tended to buy young men of working age, and to pass up women &
children. So North American got a larger share of these groups.
Period of âSeasoningâ
1. Forced to adopt to new environment & the new labor regime of plantation labor.
2. A sizable portion died of disease, overwork & poor living conditions within a couple
yearsâparticularly on the sugar plantations of Brazil & the Caribbean.