Abolitionism in America

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“The Africans of the Slave Bark Wildfire.” Harpers Weekly. June 2, 1860.
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The Middle Passage
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The terrifying voyage from Africa to the Americas claimed the lives of millions of Africans. To maximize profit, traders packed their human cargo tightly onto wooden slabs. Disease was rampant in the filthy “slave hold,” where vomit, excrement, and corpses were infrequently removed. Those who survived these hellish conditions endured physical and mental abuse. Many Africans preferred death to bondage, and starved themselves or jumped overboard. Those who failed at suicide received severe punishment.

This engraving from daguerreotype shows slaves on board the deck of the ship Wildfire.

Gift of Gail ’56 and Stephen Rudin.

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Cornell University Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Cornell University Library