9781422274248

Women and Children in Slavery Anta Majigeen Njaay was thirteen years old and a member of a wealthy family that lived in a village in western Africa when she was captured. In 1806 a group of warrior slaves arrived in her village on horseback. They killed many of the men, and took Anta and others, including some of her family members and slaves that her own family had owned, as prisoners. Her captors forced her and the others to march to the coast. After her arrival she was held in a prison, where she was eventually sold to European traders. Then she began her journey across the Atlantic to the United States. The treacherous eight-week journey, known as the Middle Passage, claimed the lives of countless slaves between the shores of Africa and America. The slaves were kept below deck and packed in tightly. Disease spread rapidly in the cramped quarters and many died. Some slaves made their escape into the ocean; choosing death over enslavement. Despite the high death rate, slave traders made money from selling their human cargo in the Americas. Slaves who survived the two-month-long journey were sold at a significant profit. The Africans sold as slaves came from different households, villages, and tribes. They spoke many languages, and had varied cultural traditions and religious beliefs. The practice of chattel slavery broke families apart. These people, sold as property, were forced to work in whatever capacity their owners saw fit.

7