Off the coast of Bonny Point, in present-day Nigeria, a young woman was grabbed by two men, who “secured her hands behind her back, beat her, and ill-used her, on account of the resistance she made,” according to testimony given by John Douglas, a slave trader.18 Traders routinely tore families asunder as they captured and stole people away from mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters. Even some African traders ended up in fetters because of the treachery of it all. One measure of the horrors of kidnapping captives is evidenced by the British Parliament outlawing it in 1750.19
