Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora

Smallwood discusses the change that the ship survivors underwent upon their arrival in the American market. She contends that the stimulus that drove the African market was very different than that driving the American market, which was “the final site of retail transaction” for commodified labor (153). Smallwood uses two categories of documentation to extract information about enslaved people’s experience: official business records, such as ledgers and remittances of sales, and the less formal accounts found in correspondence and marginalia.

Commercially, it was in the best interests of the English merchants to “buy cheap on the African coast to sell dear in America” (157). The cost associated with transportation doubled their price. Additionally, the transatlantic voyage made the African people weaker, which, in the eyes of enslavers, diminished the quality of the human commodities by the time they reached America. To remedy this, the American agents had to rely on marketing to transform the malnourished, traumatized survivors of the journey into “the ideal embodiment of labor power” (158). The week after a ship arrived to port was a preparation period. The African people were given fresh food and water for a nutritional boost. Additionally, focus was given to their physical appearance, as they needed to look as though they were robust and in peak health.