Slavery at Sea: Terror, Sex, and Sickness in the Middle Passage

by Sowande M. Mustakeem

Most times left solely within the confine of plantation narratives, slavery was far from a land-based phenomenon. This book reveals for the first time how it took critical shape at sea. Expanding the gaze even more deeply, the book centers how the oceanic transport of human cargoes--infamously known as the Middle Passage--comprised a violently regulated process foundational to the institution of bondage. Sowande' Mustakeem's groundbreaking study goes inside the Atlantic slave trade to explore the social conditions and human costs embedded in the world of maritime slavery. Mining ship logs, records and personal documents, Mustakeem teases out the social histories produced between those on traveling slaves, captains, sailors, and surgeons. As she shows, crewmen manufactured captives through enforced dependency, relentless cycles of physical, psychological terror, and pain that led to the the making--and unmaking--of enslaved Africans held and transported onboard slave ships. Mustakeem relates how this process, and related power struggles, played out not just for adult men, but also for women, children, teens, infants, nursing mothers, the elderly, diseased, ailing, and dying. Mustakeem offers provocative new insights into how gender, health, age, illness, and medical treatment intersected with trauma and violence transformed human beings into the world's most commercially sought commodity for over four centuries.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Race, American History, Historical, Audiobook, World History

296 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2016

About the author

Sowande' M. Mustakeem is a historian with broad specializations in slavery at sea, medicine, Black women’s history, terror, violence, slavery and memory, criminality, policing, gender and executions in history. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Departments of History and African and African American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis.

Reviews

[Douglas Pierre · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most informative books about slavery I have read. A stupendous amount of research was done by the author that include numerous citations from slave ships captains and surgeons logs. The author depicts the absolute horror of the slave production process with portrayal of the transport at sea as being perhaps the most cruel of all.

The author also include that phases of slavery production immediately before and after ocean transport and how one has an effect on the other.

If you want to know more about one of the most cruel endeavors and enterprises ever devised by man, I recommend you read this book.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's clear that Mustakeem did an astonishing amount of research for this book, digging deeply into the few letters, newspaper articles, and reports that detail the horror of the middle passage, and area of the slave trade traditionally neglected by historians. In her book, Mustakeem aims to correct that historical oversight, writing specifically about the on-board experience of enslaved people -- with a close eye to gender differentiation and the specific experiences of women -- include discipline, sexual assault, medical care, and resistance. In terms of content, the book is fascinating, and a clear labor of love on the part of its author. What's less compelling, however, is the way the book is structured. Each chapter includes a "conclusion" that feels unnecessary, and is both repetitive and sometimes confusing when some of them seem to be asserting that a chapter addressing things it does not (usually, those things appear in the subsequent chapter). Similarly, many of the conclusions Mustakeem draws -- or, more often, speculations she is forced to make in the frustrating absence of detail -- are repetitive, and seem to discount the readers' attentiveness and ability to draw conclusions on their own.

Many thanks to NetGalley and University of Illinois Press for the ARC!

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating and brilliant text. Mustakeem researched so thoroughly and was able to seamlessly weave primary texts (journals, letters, ledgers, etc.) with her own analysis that the past and present merged to create an eye-opening and formative experience. There were many key takeaways, but those that will stick with me forever include:

1) The middle passage was not merely a highway for transportation of enslaved persons - it was a venue for the transformation of human beings into human chattel through physical, psychological, and spiritual making and unmaking.

2) Our traditional conception of slavery has too many blindspots. We tend to think of young, healthy males, not the young, the old, the infirm, the pregnant, and the disabled. We tend to think that slavery starts at the auction, not on the shores of Africa where free people were violently captured and stored pending sale, trade, and transport. And we think of revolt as fighting the plantation owners, while ignoring the other means of rebelling against the system that were taken before and during transport.

3) Mustakeem shares very personal stories of individuals at every phase of the passage, and it forces the reader to think about all the stories that weren't and couldn't be told. Despite the author's research, only a sliver of individuals had their stories told, and the rest are lost to history, and frankly, after reading some of the horrifying accounts, it's the stories that aren't told that haunt me most. The millions of lives that were made, unmade, lost, and destroyed now have a voice thanks to Dr. Mustakeem, and that voice will stick with me for a very very long time.

Thanks to Dr. Mustakeem, the middle passage is no longer just a triangle on a map - it is a site of slavery in and of itself, and it is an absolutely vital space for further scholarship. I can't wait to see how this amazing book informs future work in African and African American history.

[Tiff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the perfect place to start my Black history journey because it wasn't a number based book with statistics and facts just thrown at the reader. This book was so much more. Using numerous citations from slave ship captains, surgeon logs, letters, and newspapers, which she seamlessly weaves together with her own analysis, Mustakeem provides an emotional, comprehensive view of the Middle Passage.

“…the Middle Passage was not about the final destination but rather the violent production of slaves through the journey.”

I am filled with so much love for my people. The terror that we've survived is immeasurable. American slavery is something that most of us generally know about but the Middle Passage was its own beast, equally worthy of its own recognition. A book like this, written by an African American historian, is so valuable to the education of Black History, and I am beyond thankful that I got to experience it.

"For isn't it odd that the only language I have in which to speak of this crime is the language of the criminal who committed the crime? And what can that really mean? For the language of the criminal can contain only the goodness of the criminal's deed. The language of the criminal can explain and express the deed only from the criminal's point of view. It cannot explain the horror of the deed, the injustice of the deed, the agony, the humiliation inflicted on me."
-Jamaica Kincaid

With this book, Mustakeem has bridged the gap between the impassive historical evidence of our captors, and the bondperson's traumatic experience of slavery at sea. I feel forever changed having read it.

[Ai Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that reminds me why I do what I do and why I don't study earlier periods, but it's also critically important, thoughtful work, and frankly (and I mean this as a compliment) a particularly useful book for graduate students.

There are some small things to gripe about (I think the conclusion would have worked better as the introduction, as one example,) and one larger thing: I think the chapter on suicide and trauma disrupted the flow of the book, and didn't match quite with the overall ark Mustakeem was writing along. I think this isn't necessarily her fault, just a problem with the way historians often write about suicide, but it was jarring as a reader.

Deeply researched though, obviously, and I think leads in so many good interesting directions.

[gnarlyhiker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading, studying and learning about the Atlantic slave trade could never be an exhausting topic. I think it is true that when we do read or even talk about the capturing and captivity of Africans, the focus is primarily on being captured and sold to work on plantations. These are no doubt true and important facts. But what about the oceanic transport or what was it like for those captured and held on ships for months on end?

Sowande’ M. Mustakeem well researched, written and richly detailed book Slavery By Sea fills in that humongous gap, and she left no stone unturned.


**advanced copy provided by publisher via NetGalley

[Rita Arens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important stuff but written in an extremely academic fashion. “Bondspeople” was a new word for me and made me wonder how people feel about that. While records have been lost, adding more storytelling elements could help this book get more exposure, as it should.

[Jeremy Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much repetition in this book...

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

imagine: a historian writes something that's easy to read AND engaging.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a powerful book. According to the author, this book focused on a perspective of slavery that gets less attention: the Middle Passage and what life was like in that harrowing trip across the Atlantic. Mustakeem presented this aspect of slavery in all its heartbreaking reality. Well written and powerful. I had the pleasure of speaking with the author about the book too, and she's just as awesome in person as she is as a scholar.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the perfect place to start my Black history journey because it wasn’t a number based book with statistics and facts just thrown at the reader. This book was so much more. Using numerous citations from slave ship captains, surgeon logs, letters, and newspapers, which she seamlessly weaves together with her own analysis, Mustakeem provides an emotional, comprehensive view of the Middle Passage.

“...the Middle Passage was not about the final destination but rather the violent production of slaves through the journey.”

I am filled with so much love for my people. The terror that we’ve survived is immeasurable. American slavery is something that most of us generally know about but the Middle Passage was its own beast, equally worthy of its own recognition. A book like this, written by an African American historian, is so valuable to the education of Black History, and I am beyond thankful that I got to experience it.

“For isn’t it odd that the only language I have in which to speak of this crime is the language of the criminal who committed the crime? And what can that really mean? For the language of the criminal can contain only the goodness of the criminal’s deed. The language of the criminal can explain and express the deed only from the criminal’s point of view. It cannot explain the horror of the deed, the injustice of the deed, the agony, the humiliation inflicted on me.”
-Jamaica Kincaid

With this book, Mustakeem has bridged the gap between the impassive historical evidence of our captors, and the bondperson’s traumatic experience of slavery at sea. I feel forever changed having read it.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent exploration of a segment of the slave trade that is often overlooked, providing harrowing details and personal accounts from slaves, captains, sailors, traders and others.

My main issue with the book is that it reads like a college student's attempt to sound professorial, using overly academic and verbose language to emphasize points that are already plainly obvious to the reader. For example, after an anecdote about a slave's baby being murdered by a sailor, the author unnecessarily explains in scholarly language that the mother was probably traumatized as a result and that the murder served to underscore to fellow slaves their collective powerlessness. (In fact, much of the book seems like an overly-academic attempt to argue something most people would consider obvious and non-controversial: that the rape, murder and torture that fueled slavery did not begin when slaves landed in America, but began at the moment of their capture in Africa and on the high seas during their transport.)

Still, the book has much to recommend it—it's well researched and the stories it presents are compelling and illuminate aspects of the slave trade that often escape notice.

[Madeleine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the type of book that is the source of nightmares, but in a good way. Mustakeem is graphic in discussing many things and people left out of the Middle Passage narrative. Through the extensive research, the author discusses the events left out of the typical history textbooks. The true terror and horrific events and relationships are written as if it is happening in front of you, but in an academic style of writing. That is where the book, in my opinion, feels like “a nightmare” as topics of illness, motherhood, childhood, and rape make your fingers clench onto the book. This type of history needs to be seen in graphic nature. She executes it with a careful eye at gender, the voices of women upon those ships, and others left out such as the role of surgeons on these vessels. Similarly in relation to Stephanie E. Smallwood’s book, Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora, it is a shift to humanizing the slave trade. It also leaves the question if the Middle Passage itself is the beginning of slavery for enslaved Africans; rather than their journey to Slavery.

[RLC]

This is a good book for historians, or history majors, but much less accessible for laymen. This book is a revision of the history of the African Slave System. It focuses more on the actual lived experience of the enslaved while at sea. Before reading this book, I would recommend looking into Saltwater Slavery by Stephanie E. Smallwater, as a precursor to Slavery at Sea, because Smallwater uses much more accessible language and was a pioneer in the revision of the writing of history pertaining to African slavery and their lived experience while at sea. What makes this book so powerful is its focus on the individual as opposed to statistics. It is also an important read because it a macabre history. It shows the harsh realities of the slave trade that have often been taken out of popular histories of slavery.

[JC · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because the Royal Navy is an important piece of the research I’m interested in undertaking, but know fairly little about it. My interest is primarily in the long 19th century but I think previous centuries are important for helping to contextualize that period and understanding how imperialism was evolving over time.

This was an important work at the intersection of maritime imperialism and the history of medicine. Fascinating stories of extremely incompetent physicians from the metropole, how slave ships became sites of medical knowledge production (particularly for sustaining and the examination of slave bodies before market transactions), African botanical and medical knowledge that surface in the documentary record of slave ships particularly due to anxieties of white slavers worried about poisonings, and quite a lot on John Newton (the guy who wrote Amazing Grace and who laughably is treated so glowingly in evangelical churches like my family’s, though he continued to profit off slavery even after distancing himself from direct involvement, as Marcus Rediker has pointed out). One of the most horrifying things I encountered in this book is claims that some slaves were outright killed if they could not be sold at market, though Mustakeem is cautious in accepting these acts of violence at face value:

“…the accuracy of cruelty inflicted on refused slaves is far from deeply studied, yet the imposed aggression many experienced took on a variety of forms—sometimes even deadly. “Common practice [was] to kill all,” one trader relayed, especially those deemed “unsaleable slaves[,] by tying a stone to their necks and drowning them in the river during the night.” In other locales “it was a well known fact, that if the slaves which the Africans bring to market are so old and blemished, that they cannot get what they think a sufficient price for them, they will cut their throats before the faces of the europeans.” taking into account the susceptibility to create racialized exaggerations of alleged hostile occasions, these actions publicly solidified the perceived lack of social and financial worth refused slaves were believed to hold. Even more is the heightened value placed particularly upon foreigners’ interest and willingness to buy offered slaves, showing the greater effect white slave traders had on the fate of African captives, whether sold or unsold.”

I was particularly fascinated by some of the accounts of insurrection that took place on these slave ships, some Mustakeem implies were instigated by women slaves:

“…violent eruptions acted out by bondmen and bondwomen were far from uncommon on the oceanic highway of the Atlantic. In 1769, after sales were finalized and 425 slaves were boarded in hollowed corners of the Liverpool vessel Unity, the commander Richard Norris directed his crew to make preparations to expedite sail toward Jamaica. Prior to their departure, Norris reported, “the Slaves made an Insurrection,” pointing out “[it] was soon quelled with y’e loss of two women.” archival records leave silent the number of people who rose in rebellion, the efforts used in their suppression, and any details intimating if these women participated in the fight for their freedom or if they were unfortunate casualties in the outbreak.

Feeling powerless in combating the retaliatory behaviors capable of still embroiling among other captives, Norris and his crew “gave y’e women concerned 24 lashes each” for their alleged roles. How many women did the crew reprimand for the uprising? Was the rebellion comprised solely of females? Did they orchestrate the rebellion, or were they perhaps accused while attempting to assist other insurrectionists? Marking their bodies through open means, they sought to intentionally quell the actions of any other undiscovered rebels; however, these measures seemed ineffective. two days later the commander remarked, “the slaves this day proposed making an Insurrection” during the evening hours.”

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the perfect place to start my Black history journey because it wasn't a number based book with statistics and facts just thrown at the reader. This book was so much more. Using numerous citations from slave ship captains, surgeon logs, letters, and newspapers, which she seamlessly weaves together with her own analysis, Mustakeem provides an emotional, comprehensive view of the Middle Passage.

“…the Middle Passage was not about the final destination but rather the violent production of slaves through the journey.”

I am filled with so much love for my people. The terror that we've survived is immeasurable. American slavery is something that most of us generally know about but the Middle Passage was its own beast, equally worthy of its own recognition. A book like this, written by an African American historian, is so valuable to the education of Black History, and I am beyond thankful that I got to experience it.

"For isn't it odd that the only language I have in which to speak of this crime is the language of the criminal who committed the crime? And what can that really mean? For the language of the criminal can contain only the goodness of the criminal's deed. The language of the criminal can explain and express the deed only from the criminal's point of view. It cannot explain the horror of the deed, the injustice of the deed, the agony, the humiliation inflicted on me."
-Jamaica Kincaid

With this book, Mustakeem has bridged the gap between the impassive historical evidence of our captors, and the bondperson's traumatic experience of slavery at sea. I feel forever changed having read it.

[Alexander Skezas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mustakeem’s Slavery at Sea is not only a grim history of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, but a gruesome read that is not for the faint of heart. Throughout the book, Mustakeem analyzes the brutal events that occurred for African slaves during the Middle Passage, ranging from the conditions of the ship, trauma, rape, disease and many other topics in which that will make your stomach sick from the horrors of slavery. Looking at the bibliography, Mustakeem demonstrates her prowess not only as a historian, but a detective uncovering the vast amount of documentation on the morbid actions that took place on slave ships, auction stages, you name it. Mustakeem even compares this dark history to a Frankenstein monster of unfathomable proportions due to how mental these events took. I would recommend others to read this if they wish to delve super deep into the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and again I cannot repeat this enough, not for the faint of heart.

[Zach Lassen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what an extremely important text that highlights the role that the middle passage played in the "human manufacturing process". Mustakeem sees the middle passage as more than any one ship but as a process that Underdeveloped and traumatized the African continent bc of constant internal slave trading. She emphasizes how our current view of Slavery leaves no room for those who were "undesirable" within the system (the old, the young, the sick) and she tracks the full process, from the heart of the continent of Africa to the coast of the new colonies in all of its terror. Truly a horrific process that cannot even be fathomed by those who did not take part. The amount of violence that was necessary to brutally extract capital in the form of enslaved labor by fully commodifying slaves and their bodies shows how Capitalism relies on imperialism for its growth and is inseparable from this violence

[David York · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was blown away by the amount of detail and effort that Muskateem poured into the writing of this book. Simply put, it is a topic, or series of topics in this case, that far too often can get swept under the rug for the "bigger picture" of the slave system. But where Muskateem and this book excel is telling the nuanced, and horrifying, accounts of ravaging sickness and unspeakable tragedies that were forced upon the slaves embarking on these slave ships. Overall, Muskateem tells an excellently well rounded story while also writing in such a way that I was captivated from the start of the book. The blend of fascinating side stories with an over-aching narrative is one that all authors in this field hope to achieve.

[Tommy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend for any history or literature class or just for personal learning. I had the privilege of taking a college course taught by Dr. Mustakeem. In the classroom she makes the history of people’s experience and their implications spring forth once more. In this novel she does the same. I could feel myself on the slaver ship and almost taste the saltwater mist of the air and got goosebumps of the horrific acts. She paints history for it ti come alive again and analyzes history in such a way that considers what is said, what is glaringly absent, what biases may be present, and what implications extend into the modern world. You will leave this book with a memorable imprint to carry forward.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

We don't remember the dead in the cycle of slavery--this line is a paraphrase from the author's conclusion. Professor Mustakeem's book is an effort to understand the Atlantic slave system as a whole, focusing on what is usually a handful of lines in most texts--the horror of the abduction and shipping process. By taking the slave system apart in its stages across the sea, the author is able to show how slavery was embodied and imprinted on these people before the abducted individuals set foot in the Americas; how the vicious system behind it shaped everything in the sailing, including the individuals' chance of survival. While the structure of the book is a bit formulaic, the conclusions are not and do a great deal to honor those who suffered and died in the shipping process.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

The imagery which the reader experiences while reading Mustakeem's work is breathtakingly horrifying. As the subtitle suggests, Mustakeem fully addresses the terror which the enslaved Africans experienced prior to, during, and after the Middle Passage. At times I had to put the book down due to the brutality which Mustakeem describes but, this book is extremely gripping and necessary for all to read to better understand the experiences enslaved Africans. People who are not historians or history buffs would enjoy this book as it reads in more of a narrative fashion and has action which evokes visceral reactions from the reader.

[NicoleKat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mustakeem's book is an important one to read if you are at all interested in understanding the lasting results of the enslaved people trade. The extensive subtopics covered in her writing bring to light the lasting trauma of the atrocious voyages, something which is frequently forgotten in history. I very much respect her research and her contribution to historical studies. However, there were parts that are extremely graphic and difficult to read through. This is not to say that this writing should not be included; it is crucial to grasping slavery, just proceed with caution if you are a little squeamish.

[Eliya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book excellently relays a brutal retelling of the Atlantic crossing for enslaved Africans that manages to communicate how utterly abhorrent the conditions of the slave ship were while also analyzing the social conditions that allowed for the commodification of enslaved people. The focus on the brutality and health hazards that characterized the experience of the slave ship depict hellish conditions that may make a reader more uncomfortable than they were expecting to be. Overall, the book is well researched and provides gripping imagery that will interest any reader who is hoping to gain more of an understanding of the reality of travelling on the Middle Passage.

[John McElligott · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Sowande’ Mustakeem’s book, Slavery at Sea: Terror, Sex, and Sickness in the Middle Passage, Mustakeem discusses something the Middle Passage in a different light than some other authors. Obviously, she discusses the elements of slave ships that are normally portrayed, such as illnesses and the dreadful conditions aboard them, but she also talks about something that is also important, sex. This is important because it demonstrates the differences between how men and women were treated aboard the slave ships. Mustakeem goes into great detail about this subject that is not normally discussed and she does an excellent job portraying it while providing an engaging narrative into it.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This scholarly work provides a deeper dive into the horrors of the Middle Passage and how the journey across the Atlantic resulted in the manufacturing of once free individuals into bondspeople (ie, slaves) through physical, psychological, and emotional trauma and abuse. Extremely well written and researched, Dr. Mustakeem provides an extremely detailed description of the bondspeople’s journeys from African shores to those of the New World. This is an important read for anyone wanting to know more about the history of the Forced Migration as well as some of the origins of the historical trauma of African American peoples.

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the sort of book you could read two or three times and still draw from it new insights. It's not so much what Mustakeem is pointing out; terror, sex, and sickness all make sense in the context of the Atlantic slavery system. It's the prevention of the "erosion of the memory of the dead" that she brings to the table and the fight she continues to give agency to the story of many people who were a footnote in a ledger or an unfinished tale about somebody without a name. That's the real bottom line I took from reading this.

[Jenna Geraghty · Rating 4 out of 5]

The amount of research and detail put into this book clearly comes across through Muskateem's writing. This book examines the societal costs of maritime slavery and how the unreglated Middle Passage contributed to the slave trade both at land and sea. This book examines the large role that slave ships and the Atlantic Ocean played in the slave trade. This topic is engaging and interesting to read as Muskateem doesn't hold back in depicting the true horrors of the Middle Passage and sheds true light on the experiences of those subjected to this travel.

[Jordan D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mustakeem expands the narrative of slavery from the shores and plantations of the United States to the coast of Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. Her book is eye opening to those who have not done a deep dive into the system of enslavement. Her narrative is bold and grotesque with the details of captured people being kept on the ships that took them into enslavement. It looks at the human cost in the exchanging of goods and lives. A very impactful read that will expand anyones knowledge of the institution of enslavement.

[Rayan Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a graduating undergraduate student and History major, this book worked incredibly well in being a substitute/companion to lecture within my class. I think that this kind of book would be an accessible piece to people who leisurely enjoy history. Moreover, it is well suited for students who are studying or are in a class revolving around the Atlantic Slave Trade and the narratives within it. I found the pieces, within the book, on the health and watchful of slavers on the slaves being taken to the Americas. Muskateem’s research and focus on primary sources is reliable and thought-provoking.