Middle Passage Guiding Questions

Document A: Portuguese Textbook

1. (Sourcing) Where was this textbook written? How might this have influenced how it
portrayed the Middle Passage?
The textbook was written in Portugal which might effect how it is portrayed because the people of
Portugal were the people enslaving the Africans.

2. (Close reading) According to the textbook, “The time between the moment the slaves
were bought and when they arrived at port was very dangerous not only for the
European traders but for the slaves as well.” Why might the textbook’s authors have
chosen to compare the experience of the ship’s crew to the experience of the slaves?

The textbook authors might choose to compare the experience of the ships crew to the slaves
because they wanted to make it seem as if it was not just bed for the slaves. They wanted to show
this so that Portugal as a whole would not feel as bad because it was bad for both parties on the ship.

3. (Close reading) Why do you think the textbook used the word “migrations” to describe
the Atlantic slave trade?

The textbook uses the word migrations to describe the Atlantic slave trade because millions of
African’s moved were brought from one side of the world to the other.

Document B: Slave Ship Captain

1. (Sourcing) Who was Phillips? How might his background have influenced what he
wrote about the Middle Passage?
Phillips was a slave ship captain. His background may have influenced what he wrote
about the middle passage because he is of the White race and he was transfering the
slaves and trying to make him and his crew look like they were doing a good job and
helping out the African’s a lit tle.
2. (Close reading) According to Phillips, what did the ship’s crew do for the slaves?
According to Phillips, the ship crew would give a sick man as much water as he
desired and some palm oil for their sores.

3. (Close reading) According to Phillips, why was being a slave trader such an
unpleasant job?
According to Phillip, being a slave trader was such an unpleasant job because it
is miserable. By the end of the voyage the mortality of the African’s ruins the
crews voyage, and they “pine and fret ourselves to death.”

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Document C: Slave Ship Doctor

1. (Sourcing) Who was Falconbridge? How might his background have influenced what
he wrote about the Middle Passage?

Falconbridge was a slave ship doctor, and his background may have influenced what he
wrote about the middle passage because he was white and saw everything that was
going on during the passage, and some may have been too gross for him to write about.

2. (Close reading) How might the conditions on the ship have been connected to the
diseases that were so common among slaves?
The conditions on the ships may have been connected to the diseases that were
common among the slaves because that slaves were living on top of one another with
barely room to lay on their sides with blood and mucus on the floor which could lead
to disease out brakes.
3. (Close reading) Why do you think Falconbridge said that most surgeons only worked
on slave ships because of their financial situations?
Falconbridge said that most surgeons only work on slave ships because of their
financial situations since the conditions that they were working in were very hot and
extremely gross.

Document D: Slave Ship Diagram

1. (Sourcing) Why was this diagram produced?

The diagram was produced because to show how bad the living situations of slaves
were on the ships. It also is showing the poor conditions in which they live only
have a few feet of head space and being packed in

Document E: Autobiography of a Former Slave

1. (Sourcing) Who was Equiano? How might his background have influenced what he
wrote about the Middle Passage?
Equiano was a former slave and his background may have influenced what he wrote
about the middle passage because he first hand expirianced the horrors that went on
during it.

2. (Close reading) Why do you think slaves were punished for not eating?
I think that slaves were punished for not eating because the people who were
profiting off of the slaves would make less money if slaves died on the ships and
so the ship crews wanted to get the most amount of money they could.

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 How did people experience the Middle Passage?
Document Close reading
According to this document,
what were 2-3 ways people
experienced the Middle
Passage?
People experienced the
middle passage with little
space and they suffered
from heat thirst and lack of
A: Portuguese hygiene
Textbook
People experienced the
middle passage with lots of
sickness being spread
among the slaves and
B: Slave Ship some of the slaves died
Captain along the passage
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Corroboration Reliability
How is this account similar Why might this be a reliable
or different from the other source to understand the
documents? Middle Passage? Why not?
This account is similar to
This might not be a reliable
document b because it was
source to understand the
written by the Portuguese like
middle passage because it
document b which was
was written by the
written by a slave ship
Portuguese which may have
captain from Europe was.
not wanted to tell the readers
Also it is like document c
where the slave ship doctor
about how truly bad the
middle passage really was
talks about the horrors the
slaves endured
This might be a little more
This account is like
reliable of an account about
document c because it also
the middle passage because
talks about the sickness that
this was written by someone
spread among the the slaves,
who experienced it first
and it is different from
document a because it talks
hand but still might not be
as reliable because the
about the death that
captain may have tried to
occurred due to the
down play what was really
sickness
going on
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 Close reading
According to this document,
Document
what were 2-3 ways people
experienced the Middle
Passage?
People experienced the
middle passage with lots of
heat, humidity, and stench
of the living quarters and
C: Slave Ship with little room to move
Doctor around, they did not have
room to stand fully upright
unless up on deck or under
the grating.
People experienced the
middle passage with very
D: Slave Ship little personal space or
space to move around at
Diagram all, and a very inhumane
way of living.
People experienced the
E: Autobiography middle passage with a very
of a Former bad smell and having to be
chained down for a majority
Slave of the trip.
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Corroboration
How is this account similar or
different from the other
documents?
This is like document a where
it talks about the bad heat
and poor hygiene, and also
like the slave ship diagram
where it shows how much
room the slaves had to move
around or even stand up.
This document is similar to
document c because it talks
about the living conditions,
but is different than ever other
document because it is a
diagram, while the others are
written accounts.
This document is similar to
document c because it talks
about the foul smell that
was in the area that the
slaves lived but unlike any
other document because it
was written by a former
slave.
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Reliability
Why might this be a reliable
source to understand the
Middle Passage? Why not?
This might be a reliable
source to understand the
middle passage, but still may
not be as good as a first hand
account of a slave and the
diagram that shows the little
space that they had and the
inhumane living situations
that they had.
This might be reliable
because it is showing in a
diagram the horrendous
living situations that the
slaves lived in. It also
depicted how close the
slaves had to be to one
another and the dimensions
they had to live in.
This might be reliable
because it was the first
hand account of the horrors
that went on during the
middle passage and the
slave would not try and
cover up some of the bad
things that went on during
the passage.
 Final Question
Which of these documents do you believe is the most reliable source of
information about the Middle Passage? Select no more than two and
explain your selection using evidence from the Graphic Organizer and
Guiding Questions.
The documents that I believe are the most reliable sources of information from the
middle passage are document D and E. I believe these are the most reliable documents
because the slave ship diagram shows the inhumane living situations the slaves have
to live in with only 2 feet and 7 inches of height under the shelves. Yes, They were
living on shelves. The other documents do not tell you the exact arrangement of the
slaves and how they were stored away except for document c but that document still
seemed to be holding information out. Document e on the other hand seemed to be a
great document because it seemed to tell everything and not leave any information
out. It talked about the fact that they were mostly all chained down for most of the
journey, and that they were beaten very badly if they decided not to eat. With all of that
being said, document d and e seem to be the most reliable because they did not seem
to leave important information out about the true horrors of the middle passage.

STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP sheg.stanford.edu