s e c t i o n
H ISTO R Y
ClassDate
Use with Sub-Saharan Africa Geography & History, Section 2.3, in your textbook.
GeoActivity
Go to Interactive Whiteboard GeoActivities at
© NGSP & HB
Name
myNGconnect.com to complete this activity online.
2 . 3 I M PA C T O F T H E S L AV E T R A D E
Analyze Primary Sources: The Slave Trade
The Middle Passage took an unspeakable toll on the millions of enslaved Africans
who were held captive and taken to the Americas. Many narratives exist that tell
about this experience. The following documents are from Olaudah Equiano, who
was enslaved in the 1750s at the age of 11, and from an English slave ship captain,
John Newton. Analyze these primary sources and answer the questions.
1. Make Inferences Why would slave traders force enslaved
Africans to endure the types of conditions that Equiano
describes in the passage?
Document 1: Equiano’s Experience Aboard the Slave Ship
The closeness of the place, and the heat of the
climate, added to the number in the ship, which
was so crowded that each had scarcely room to
turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced
copious perspirations [a lot of sweat], so that the air
soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of
loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among
the slaves, of which many died.
Olaudah Equiano, c. 1789
3.Make Generalizations Based on these passages, how
common do you think illness and disease were during the
Middle Passage? Why?
Document 2: Newton on the Middle Passage
Thursday 25th January. . . 6 of our white people
and about 5 slaves ill with the flux [dysentery], but
none, I hope, without a prospect for recovery. For
these 3 days have omitted giving the slaves pease
[porridge] for breakfast and try them for a while
with rice twice a day.
—from the journals of John Newton,
1750–1754
029-038_GA90166_U07_C13S2.indd 9
Sub-Saharan Africa Geography & History SEC TION 2 . 3
—from The Interesting Narrative of the Life
of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa,
the African, 1789
2.Analyze Primary Sources What in Newton’s passage suggests
he was concerned with the health and survival of the slaves
aboard his ship? How concerned do you think he was?
John Newton, c. 1775
2/11/11 12:30 PM