Life Aboard a Slave Ship

Synopsis

From 1525 to 1866, twelve and a half million Africans are forcibly transported across the Atlantic during the transatlantic slave trade, with approximately 2 million not surviving the journey. By the 18th century, European merchants construct ships designed to carry hundreds of enslaved people, featuring extra portholes for ventilation and weapons on deck to suppress potential rebellions. Before boarding, enslaved individuals are stripped of their possessions and have their heads shaved. The boarding process can take weeks or months. Once aboard, enslaved people are confined below deck in cramped compartments with ceilings as low as four and a half feet, segregated by gender and age. Conditions are horrific, with no sanitary facilities, leading to rampant disease such as dysentery and smallpox. Enslaved individuals spend about eight hours a day above deck, but are still separated by gender, with a reinforced wall, or barre kata, used to protect the crew from revolts. Forced exercise, including dance and song, is also imposed on the enslaved.