1. Slavery in America
"Captives Below Deck." The artist Evans has four scenes in this image all displaying very different aspects of slave life in the hull of a ship during their "captive passage." One can only try to imagine the mental state of these people who were torn from their homeland and kin, herded like cattle by strangers to an unknown destination and uncertain future. In 1704, James Island, a slave trader complained about his impossible task of fitting the large number of slaves onboard the Postillion stating that the "slaves are so large ... the general opinion being that the slaves could not be healthy in the space of three foot." Where do you think the shipmate is taking the group of slaves in the upper left image? Notice how the ribs of the children show through their skin, what do you think they are looking at? Notice the expression on the mother's face as she holds her baby in the bottom image, what things might she be thinking at that moment? Rob Evans, Mariners' Museum. Public Record Office, London, Records of the Treasury T 70/957.

2. -Where do you think the shipmate is taking the group of slaves in the upper left image?
-Notice how the ribs of the children show through their skin, what do you think they are looking at?
-Notice the expression on the mother's face as she holds her baby in the bottom image, what things might she be thinking at that moment?

3. "Captives Awaiting Passage
"Captives Awaiting Passage." This bustling trade port holds an enormous slave castle, or fort, that was typically built by European powers as a depot for the exchange of gold, ivory, and captured Africans. Within these castles a luxury apartment served as the living quarters for trade commanders and a large warehouse held human captives waiting for sale. As pictured here, slave castles were often painted white and built on prominent bluffs in picturesque coves along the coast. They operated as miniature cities and were usually armed with guns, soldiers, and a military and trade commander. This image depicts European traders doing business with an African trader, probably negotiating the price of slaves, fresh food, and water supplies for the voyage to America. Captive Africans in the slave pen continue to be inspected for sale while the already chosen ones wait to be shipped in a canoe to the anchored schooner. The white tents along the beach might serve as shelter for the ship's crew for a few days while in port. How many of these structures owned by European countries do you think existed along the coast of Africa? Do any of these slave castles or forts still exist today? Rob Evans, Mariners' Museum.
How many of these structures owned by European countries do you think existed along the coast of Africa? Do any of these slave castles or forts still exist today?

4. How do you think the enslaved Africans feel as they near their destination in this foreign land? What do their facial expressions tell you? What will happen to these slaves once they are transferred to slave traders in America?
"Captives Loaded for Passage." Artist Rob Evans replicates a typical destination port for slave traders to unload their human cargo. The scene depicts the wealth and luxury afforded by this business. How do you think the enslaved Africans feel as they near their destination in this foreign land? What do their facial expressions tell you? What will happen to these slaves once they are transferred to slave traders in America? Rob Evans, Mariners’ Museum.

5. This slave barracoon in Sierra Leone in the 1840s was a barrack-like hut used to hold enslaved Africans under guard. The men were typically chained together at the neck or ankles. Notice the armed guards, who are Africans, and the person being whipped, probably in punishment for trying to escape or for resisting enslavement. The word "barracoon" is derived from a Spanish word for hut, as is the English word barrack. These holding pens and the various slave-trading forts and castles located along the African coast were the principal structures used by European and African slave traders. Some historicans think that the slang word "coon" used by whites to label blacks negatively in 19th-century America is rooted in the word barracoon.(Illustrated London News--The Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Virginia)
The men were typically chained together at the neck or ankles. Notice the armed guards, who are Africans, and the person being whipped, probably in punishment for trying to escape or for resisting enslavement.

6. Africans being sent into bondage: Tipo Tib (pictured here) was an African slave trader who sold captives to the European slavers whose ships carried men, women, and children to the New World. According to John Barbot, a slave trader who journeyed at least twice to the West Coast of Africa in the 1670s and 1680s, "Those sold by the Blacks are for the most part prisoners of war, taken either in fight, or pursuit, or in the incursions they make into their enemies' territories; others stolen away by their own countrymen..."
"Those sold by the Blacks are for the most part prisoners of war, taken either in fight, or pursuit, or in the incursions they make into their enemies' territories; others stolen away by their own countrymen..."

7. Inspection and sale of a captive; an African man is being inspected for sale to European or American slavers while a white man talks with African slave traders. The Arabs were the earliest non-Africans to buy African slaves. In the early 1500s, Portugal and Spain began to send African-born slaves to their colonies in the New World, and in the following century England, France, and the Netherlands entered the trade, as eventually did the United States. Rum and guns were among the items most frequently traded for slaves.
Inspection and sale of a captive; an African man is being inspected for sale.

8. "Barbarous Cruelty Inflicted on a Negroe
"Barbarous Cruelty Inflicted on a Negroe." Captain John Gabriel Stedman, an Englishman, spent five years during the 1770s, in the Dutch colony of Surinam in Guiana documenting the agricultural enterprises dependant on slave labor. Stedman described this scene as the "first object which presented itself after my landing ... a young female slave, whose only covering was a rag tied round her loins, which, like her skin, was lacerated in several places by the stroke of the whip. The crime which had been committed by this miserable victim of tyranny, was the nonperformance of a task which she was apparently unequal, for which she was sentenced to receive two hundred lashes, and to drag during some months, a chain several yards in length, one end of which was locked around her ancle, and the other was affixed a weight of at least a hundred pounds..." Notice that other African slaves carried out the punishment orders of the slaveholder; also notice the startled appearance of the English soldier, probably Stedman as he came upon the scene. Note too the color and facial features of the woman being whipped in comparison to those who are doing the whipping. Stedman refers in his writing to the many mulattos and quaderoons, or the offspring of white enslavers and the enslaved, among the slave population. These mixed race children and adults most often resulted from the sexual assaults on enslaved females by the white, male enslavers. Stedman, John Gabriel. Curious Adventures of Captain Stedman, During an Expedition to Surinam, in London: Thomas Tegg, III, Cheapside, Mariners' Museum.
Notice that other African slaves carried out the punishment orders of the slaveholder; also notice the startled appearance of the English soldier

9. "Dark Passage." Artist Rob Evans painted this mural for the Mariners' Museum as a window into the dark and desperate situation Africans encountered as they were transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas in the hull of a slaver. Historians estimate that between eleven to thirteen million Africans, or more, were forcibly taken from their homelands during the 400 years of slave trade, enduring the most inhumane treatment and living conditions imaginable. Why is the image so dark? Why are the bodies so close to each other? What is a reasonable explanation for the awkward position of the slaves in the middle image of this painting? Notice how the image in the far left corner shows the enslaved alternating the direction they lay, forced to assume a spoon position (head-feet-head) to maximize the number of bodies in the space allotted. Rob Evans, Mariners' Museum.
Historians estimate that between eleven to thirteen million Africans, or more, were forcibly taken from their homelands during the 400 years of slave trade, enduring the most inhumane treatment and living conditions imaginable. Why is the image so dark? Why are the bodies so close to each other? What is a reasonable explanation for the awkward position of the slaves in the middle image of this painting?

10. Enslaved males were kept below deck most of the time
Enslaved males were kept below deck most of the time. Usually once or twice a day, the men would be brought on deck where they were forced to dance, beat drums, and sing vigorously. It was believed that such dancing and singing helped keep spirits up and bodies fit. In the later years of the slave trade, espeicially on British ships, the crew swabbed out the filthy and foul-smelling sub-deck region of the ship while the men danced on deck. Often, the crew used vinegar as a kind of disinfectant. Experienced slavers knew that such actions helped the enslaved Africans to survive the middle passage for sale in the slave markets of the Americas and the West Indies. This image appeared in Amedee Grehan's France Maritime, published in Paris in 1855.
Enslaved males were kept below deck most of the time. Usually once or twice a day, the men would be brought on deck where they were forced to dance, beat drums, and sing vigorously. It was believed that such dancing and singing helped keep spirits up and bodies fit.

11. It is estimated that more than 200,000 Africans were smuggled into the United States between 1808 and 1860.
Slaves were usually taken on deck in small controlled groups during the day for fresh air and exercise. Returning to the dark, cramped, hull of the ship was surely dreaded by the captives.
"Stowing the Cargo on a Slaver at Night." c1855. Slaves were usually taken on deck in small controlled groups during the day for fresh air and exercise. Returning to the dark, cramped, hull of the ship was surely dreaded by the captives. The expression of total despair is seen on the faces of several slaves. Whips are used by the sailors to force cooperation. This engraving was published in Henry Howe's Life and Death on the Ocean, c1855, which was long after the slave trade to America became illegal but adversely continued. It is estimated that more than 200,000 Africans were smuggled into the United States between 1808 and Mariners' Museum.

12. Slavers who "tight-packed" their ships loaded as many men, women, and children as the ship could carry, operating on the assumption that a certain number would either sicken or die during the voyage.
Captains who "loose-packed" their ships carried fewer slaves in the hope that the healthier conditions would reduce the impact of disease and death.
Stowage of the British slave ship Brookes under the regulated slave trade act of This is the more frequent configuration for a "tight-packed" slave ships. The slaves were chained together below decks. Slavers who "tight-packed" their ships loaded as many men, women, and children as the ship could carry, operating on the assumption that a certain number would either sicken or die during the voyage; captains who "loose-packed" their ships carried fewer slaves in the hope that the healthier conditions would reduce the impact of disease and death.

13. "I am resolved it is better to die than to be a white man's slave," said Joseph Cinquez (often written "Cinque"), a leader of the 1839 Amistad rebellion after the mutiny.
"I am resolved it is better to die than to be a white man's slave," said Joseph Cinquez (often written "Cinque"), a leader of the 1839 Amistad rebellion after the mutiny. This portrait of Cinque, who was taken by slavers in the Congo, was done while he was awaiting trial in New Haven, Connecticut.

14. The scenes on either side of the central picture compare life in slavery to life in freedom. Enslaved blacks are sold apart from their families, and some are whipped and branded. In contrast, in freedom a black mother sends her children off to school, black men are paid fair wages, and white bosses treat black field hands with respect.
"Emancipation." The celebrated cartoonist, Thomas Nast, presented in 1865 this optimistic view of what the future promised for the formerly enslaved people with the end of the Civil War. The center image shows a happy family of blacks gathered around a Union stove. Notice the picture of Abraham Lincoln on the wall. The scenes on either side of the central picture compare life in slavery to life in freedom. Enslaved blacks are sold apart from their families, and some are whipped and branded. In contrast, in freedom a black mother sends her children off to school, black men are paid fair wages, and white bosses treat black field hands with respec. Library of Congress.