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Life Aboard a Slave Ship | History

HISTORY

5.8M views 7 years ago

Warm-up Questions

What do you already know about life on ships in the transatlantic slave trade?
What kinds of dangers do you think people faced during long ocean voyages in the past?
Why do you think historians still study and teach this part of history today?

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Life Aboard a Slave Ship | History

Scale of the trade and conditions on the ship (00:00 – 01:52)

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1. About how many Africans were forcibly transported across the Atlantic during the period mentioned?

About 12.5 million
About 442,000
About 58 million
About 2 million

2. Why did slave ships have extra port holes?

To store weapons safely
To help navigation
For ventilation
To make loading faster at ports

3. What was one major reason conditions below deck became 'hellish'?

There was too much fresh water
There were no sanitary facilities and people had to relieve themselves where they sat
The ceilings were high and cold
People were allowed to move freely all day

Life Aboard a Slave Ship | History

Control, violence, and resistance (01:52 – 03:03)

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1. What was the purpose of the reinforced wall mentioned on deck?

To improve ventilation below deck
To store food and water
To protect crew members in case of a revolt
To separate sick people from healthy people

2. What was the 'cat-o'-nine-tails' used for?

To navigate during storms
To shave people's heads
To inflict maximum pain during beatings
To force open a person's mouth

3. According to the video, who often coordinated mutinies using their small freedoms?

Merchants at port cities
Adult men kept shackled in pairs
Women
Children

Life Aboard a Slave Ship | History

The Zong trial and the path to abolition (03:03 – 05:01)

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1. What major problem did the ship face after the journey was 'riddled with navigation errors'?

The crew refused to sail
Fresh water was running dangerously low
They arrived early with no losses
There was too much cargo space

2. Why did the captain claim it was necessary to throw people overboard?

To meet a legal requirement at the destination
To reduce food consumption during a storm
To punish a rebellion that had succeeded
To halt the spread of disease

3. What did British abolitionists do when republishing the story?

They focused only on the captain’s biography
They denied the events happened
They redacted the ship’s name to show it could happen on any ship
They changed the ship’s route details but kept the name

Life Aboard a Slave Ship | History

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1. Which detail best supports the idea that slave ships were designed to prevent resistance?

They traveled across the Atlantic
They had a reinforced wall to protect crew members and weapons mounted on deck
They sometimes had navigation errors
They carried rice and beans as a typical meal

2. What combination of factors most contributed to high death rates during the Middle Passage, according to the video?

Short voyages and plenty of clean water
Good food variety and freedom to move below deck
Comfortable space, warm clothes, and frequent medical care
Lack of sanitation, heat, poor ventilation, and rampant disease

3. Why was the Zong trial historically significant in the video’s explanation?

It immediately ended slavery in all countries
It exposed the horrors of the Middle Passage to the public
It proved navigation errors never happened
It showed enslaved people were covered by insurance when they died of disease

Discussion Questions

Discuss the ideas from this video

Life Aboard a Slave Ship | History

The video describes ships being modified to carry more people. What does this suggest about the priorities of merchants, and how did those priorities shape the conditions on board?
How does language like "human cargo" affect the way people are viewed and treated? Can you think of modern examples where language is used to dehumanize groups?
Why do you think the Zong trial mattered even though the court agreed with the owners? What can public exposure change even when the law does not?
What responsibilities do schools, museums, or media have when presenting violent historical events to the public?