Slaves for Sale!

Coconut class have experienced the conditions of the Africans in the slave trade, both on the ship and a mock auction.

Before 1788, slaves were packed onto the trade ships. In 1788 the Slaves Reform Act was introduced to reduce deaths on the slave ships. Slaves were generously allocated a set amount of space: men had 6 ft by 1 ft 4", women had 5 ft 10" by 1 ft 4" and children had 5ft by 1 ft 2" of space. Here's how that (roughly) looks:

Men were shackled together, as they were considered a threat, women had a bit more freedom and were not chained together.

Food and water was plentiful on the ships as the loss of a slave would be loss of earnings. However, the slaves were expected to all drink and eat from one bucket, which caused lots of arguments and quickly spread diseases (as they were all sharing from one bucket.)

Once all the slaves had arrived (two/three months of travel - that's longer than you spend at school without a holiday!) on ship they were sold off at auctions, sometimes alongside animals. This was another way to degrade and dehumanise the slaves.

The slaves were inspected - like animals - by prospective owners to check their physical condition.