Do Now– 03/10/15

Nightjohn by Gary Paulson The novel is set on the Waller plantation in the Southern United States in the 1850s.plantationSouthern United States The narrator and protagonist of the story is a young female African-American slave named Sarny.African-American Sarny first sees Nightjohn when he is brought to the plantation with a chain around his neck, his body covered in scars. He had escaped north to freedom, but he came back - to teach reading. Knowing that the penalty for reading is dismemberment, John still returned to slavery to teach others how to read.

1.How does Waller keep his power? 2. How does Sarny’s description show us that she is fighting against him even though she he has that control?

What are the ‘troubles’ and what does she mean by ‘breeders’? How do these words show us what life was like under slavery?

Why do you think they are not allowed to live with their birth mothers? How does this increase the slave owners’ control?

Transantlantic Triangular Trade The Transantlantic Triangular Trade was a loop that ships took between three places; Europe, Africa and The America (North and South).

Atlantic Triangular Trade 1) The first leg was from Europe to Africa. On board was textiles, weapons and manufactured goods.

2) When the ship arrived in Africa, those manufactured good were traded to coastal Africans in exchange for slaves captured in the interior of Africa.

3) When the ship arrived in the Americas (The final destination might be different, but most ships stopped in the Indies first) the slaves were traded for raw materials like sugar, cotton or tobacco (which came from plantations worked by slaves) which were shipped back to Europe to make manufactured goods.

European, especially Spanish, Portuguese and English, trade ships could complete this trip twice a year. Ships were running along this route for more than 300 years, between The section of the trip between Africa and the Americas, when human slaves were on board, came to be called the Middle Passage.

The Middle Passage In the early days, the Middle Passage could be more than three months, by the late 1700s it was more efficient and took about 6 weeks, unless there was bad weather.

Some facts about the Middle Passage 25 million slaves were taken on board the ships between (this is an estimate and could be higher). Sometimes there were more than 400 slaves aboard each ship. An estimate million slaves died on the journey across (this is very hard to estimate) Disease, caused by horrible sanitation, was a huge problem, especially scurvy and dysentery. Slaves were chained together below deck, especially the men, while women and children were allowed more freedom aboard the ship. Slaves that were ill or rebelled were often thrown overboard.

OLAUDAH EQUIANO

OLAUDAH EQUIANO When I looked round the ship too and saw a large furnace of copper boiling, and a multitude of black people of every description chained together, every one of their countenances expressing dejection and sorrow, I no longer doubted my fate and quite overpowered with horror and anguish, I fell motionless on the deck and fainted… I asked if we were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces and long hair?

MIDDLE PASSAGE

From the Giot Museum of Black History in Missouri