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Marcus Rediker The Slave Ship

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The Slave Ship, by Marcus Rediker was wrote in 2007 about the cruel and brutal actions the slaves endured on their journey across the Atlantic Ocean. He states, “this has been a painful book to write, if I have done any justice to the subject, it will be a painful book to read.” Marcus Rediker accomplished exactly that. This book was not only compelling but emotional, heartbreaking, and makes a reader think, how could someone be so cruel to another living being. Within the first couple pages, the book brought me to tears. He mainly focused on the 1700’s when Britain controlled most of the slave trade throughout the world. During the book, Rediker informs the reader about the tortured slaves as they were shipped from West Africa to the new world. Marcus Rediker, a professor at the University of Pittsburg, taught history and starting researching the slave trade by …show more content…

Many slaves being shipped to America had been betrayed by their own race, kidnapped and sold into slavery. The conditions on the ship were horrendous and each man was chained to an area and given about six feet long by fifteen inches wide. The boats were extremely packed with close corners and no bathroom, and women or children got even less space than the men. Many a times, the crew tried to justify the chaining by stating the it was a form of protection to avoid an uprising. In one of the examples Rediker gave, the slave ship, with Captain Tomba, who was known for brutal beatings including whipping, handing out cruel punishments to scare the other slaves into not acting out. He selected three less valuable slaves, killed one, and forced the others to eat his heart. Many of the ships were followed by, what Marcus called them, “greedy robbers.” Human waste and bodies were thrown off often enough to constantly have sharks following the ship, greedily waiting for the next over

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Similarly, this was the circumstance with many of the slave ships during the Atlantic slave trade. The author then goes on to explain how paranoid slave ship crews were during the Atlantic slave trade because of the fear of a slave revolt. Harms then mentions several other slave ships were slave revolts broke out during the Atlantic slave trade such as: the Marie, the Excellent, the Ameriquin, and the Henry (Harms 270-271). With these examples that the author mentioned in the book, it appears that slave revolts occurred quite often on slave ships during the Atlantic slave trade. For the African captives, a revolt was essential to their survival and possibly their liberation, but to the crew of the slave ship, it meant life or dead, or even lost profits.

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The conditions of the ships the slaves were on and the minds of the slaves are detailed most effectively in this first person documentary. Sharing the story of the enslavement and subsequent freedom of the brothers and their probable return to the slave trade gives a better insight into the journey of slavery from the eyes of the enslaved and those doing the enslavement. Sparks story helps the reader understand that the same Africans that were sold as slaves, were also involved in the selling of slaves. He also defends the brothers decision to enslave others explaining that since this was part of their culture, they didn’t know anything else or how to live any other way than to enslave others as they once were

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Equiano described the horrors of a slave ship based on his firsthand experience. He describes what it was like to be thrown onto a ship, the indescribable smell of being crammed on the deck with so many other slaves, and the floggings he and the other slaves received for not eating. The slaves were so tightly packed together the air was dangerous to breath, and many of the slaves became sick and died from it, while others suffocated to death. Men were pushed to the brink of starvation, tried to steal food, and were severely flogged for it. Others tried to jump overboard and drown rather than accept their life of misery.

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Throughout the narrative, the author includes his personal stories about experiencing the violence of slavery first-hand. For example, on page 20, he writes about the first time he witnessed a slave, his own aunt, getting the whip. “The louder she screamed, the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest…I remember the first time I ever witnessed this horrible exhibition… It struck me with awful force. It was the blood-stained gate, the entrance to the hell of slavery…” The author including his experience of his aunts whipping, in detail, appeals to the emotions of the reader.

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The detailed descriptions included in primary sources, along with the descriptive and emotional illustrations included in graphic history are crucial elements in studying and understanding the process and history of the transatlantic slave trade. Rafe Blaufarb and Liz Clarke tie both of these together to help readers truly understand this historic tragedy in the book, Inhuman Traffick: The International Struggle Against the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Although different than the standard book that may be used, that simply spews information out in an uncreative and somewhat boring way, this book is a tool that can be chosen in classrooms to teach different aspects of the slave trade. Working together, the primary sources and graphic history

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One example of this occurred when a ship’s captain ordered the “ship’s surgeons to stop the anus of each of [the slaves infected with flux] with oakum” (Document 10). This treatment was painful and humiliating to the already sick and suffering slaves. This practice highlighted the selfishness of the Europeans, who deceived other and hurt slaves in order to help themselves earn money. These cruel men did not abandon the chain methods on the boats either. The slave traders would chain poor slaves “to the decks by the neck and legs”, the position and feeling of entrapment resulted in so much pain and discomfort that meaning were “driven to a frenzy” (Document 6).

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Marcus Rediker captured the stories and events of past-time common day slaves; he transformed their words into the common language to which most American people understood. Although his book unveiled the terrifying, tragic every day life of slavery, the overall message of the book was powerful and eye opening. Captives of the African continent withstood an extraneous amount of suffering through the process of becoming a slave, through the magnitudes they overcame from many forms of resistance, and real life accounts, which influenced many to join the abolishment movement. The insight that Rediker gave to many people that were skeptical about slavery and gave them a way to choose a side. Marcus Rediker’s emphasis of slaves, sailors, and slave

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Marcus Rediker, professor and graduate from the University of Pittsburgh relays the story of the slave trade, a treacherous happening through the 17th and 18th century. He captures these events as a magnificent drama, letting people know what kind of hell the slave trade really was. Rediker mentions W.E.B DuBois who was an African-American scholar-activist who claimed the slave trade was one of the most magnificent dramas (4), talking about the terror and the horror constantly brought upon the slave ship. Rediker claims the slave trade to be “the making of global capitalism” as there was no way around the terror and violence these souls went through by the trade

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Equiano explained that the crew above him had just caught a significant number of fish and that they had eaten and eaten until they were fully content; after, however, instead of giving the remains to the slaves, they disposed of it overboard. The following quote recounts the subsequent reactions of the prisoners, "some of my countrymen, being pressed for hunger, took an opportunity, when they thought no one saw them, of trying to get a little privately". These companions of his were starving, both literally, and with indignation--so they took matters into their own hands. Stealing fish in reprisal to their hunger and mistreatment was a form of rebellion. Although, interestingly enough, when Equiano wrote about the spectacle, he didn’t mention himself taking any part in it.

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Charles Johnson's use of journal entries in his novel, The Middle Passage, is a powerful literary device that enhances the impact of the story. By incorporating personal accounts and first-hand experiences of characters, Johnson brings a level of authenticity and emotional depth to the novel that would be impossible to achieve through narration alone. Johnson's use of journal entries in The Middle Passage is a key factor in its ability to convey the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade and the impact it had on the lives of those who were forced to endure it. One of the most striking aspects of The Middle Passage is the vividness and detail with which Johnson portrays the experience of being a slave aboard a slave ship.

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To be sold into slavery or to be eaten by a shark: The Slave Ship begins with the story of a woman who must make this fateful decision. The author tricks the reader twice, first by making us think that this woman fated to death by a shark or the slave trade will be the focus of the novel, and then again by making us think that nothing could be worse than that. We learn as the book progresses that slaves faced insurmountable obstacles, pain, fear, and humiliation, and that for many the choice to eaten by a shark was one they could only dream of. In his novel he weaves a narrative of many, one with diverse perspectives and experiences that as a finished product reveal the slave ship in its truth. Rediker shows us that the trauma millions faced on the voyage from Africa to the Americas was in service of something of indescribable magnitude.

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