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Middle Passage DBQ

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34 views3 pages

Middle Passage DBQ

-

Uploaded by

christopotter9
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Document Close Reading Corroboration Reliability

According to this How is this account Why might this be a


document, similar reliable
what were 2-3 ways or different from the source to understand
people other the
experienced the Middle documents? Middle Passage?
Passage? Why not?

A: Portuguese 1. A deadly, In a lot of cases, it is This might not be a


Textbook unhygienic seen that the slaves reliable source to
“migration” across weren’t cleaned up understand the
the Atlantic Ocean after at all, and were Middle Passage
and into slavery. left to dwell in their because it was
2. The shipwrights, own filth during the written by the
forced to take care voyage. perpetrators of it, who
of the slaves, doing might try to paint
dangerous work in themselves in a
the process. better light.

B: Slave Ship 1. Being deathly ill This account is Once again, this
Captain with smallpox, or similar to Document source is written by
white flux and A as it poses the one of the
haveing a good white men on the perpetrators of the
chance of dying. ship as saviours to Middle Passage, and
2. Almost like herding the slaves that staved thus might be
pigs to slaughter, off the sickness and skewed.
forced to clean up mess to keep them
after the “less-than- comfortable.
swine” cargo.

D: Slave Ship 1. The cramped, This account is not This source is reliable
Diagram crowded slave similar to any of the as it shows us the
decks where every other documents as it true spacing
person only had 6- has a diagram and no conditions on the
7 feet of space. words as opposed to ships and the
2. The spacious the others that are dynmaic between the
captain’s cabin and entirely words. captains and crew
crew cabins that living in as close to
are a stark contrast luxury as they can,
to the cramped and the slaves living
spaces just in cramped filth.
outside.

DOCUMENT A
1. (Sourcing) Where was this textbook written? How might this have influenced how it
portrayed the Middle Passage?
Coming from a Portuguese source, it seems to talk a lot about how the process was deadly for
the white people involved too, almost making it out to be as bad for the whites as it was for 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 enslaved
people?

This comparison might be attempting to garner sympathy or even reverence for the white
people involved, as the article harps about the struggles experienced by the white people
involved in the experience.

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

The word “migrations” almost alludes to the slave trade being voluntary and beneficial for the
slaves involved, as typically, migrations are done in nature when moving to a better area is
necessary.

DOCUMENT B

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

He was the captain of a ship transporting the slaves, and the fact that he gained money off of it
and that he saw the slaves as lesser than swine may have made him more complacent and
active in the slave trade.

2. (Close reading) According to Phillips, what did the ship’s crew do for the enslaved
People?

He claims they kept their quarters clean and sweet, as well as sweeping up their flux and putting
up with the conditions.

3. (Close reading) According to Phillips, why was being a slave trader such an
unpleasant job?

Because they had to put up with the stench and the noise of the slaves, who they saw as nastier
than pigs.

DOCUMENT D
1. Why was this diagram produced?

To show the cramped living spaces that led to disease-ridden and unhygienic conditions on the
ship. Almost as a way to shock the British people who were not aware of how horrible it was.

FINAL QUESTION

I believe that the ship’s diagram and the captain’s account are the most accurate out of the ones
picked, as they provide the actual visuals of how the ship was constructed, as well as an
account- albeit biased- from someone who was actually on the ship. The ship’s diagram
provides useful information because it highlights the contrasts between the slaves’s and the
crew’s life, and gives a reliable visual representation of the conditions that reading about it
cannot. The captain’s account, while biased, provides a first-hand perspective about how the life
on the ships might have been even if it is skewed to make the crew’s life seem more difficult,
and the slaves’s lives more cushioned. What it does give us a true, unfiltered insight into,
though, is how the crew looked at the slaves, reportedly being “nastier than swine,”. It delves
into the power dynamic between the two sides of the ship, and shows the true feelings of the
crew about the slaves

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