USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Once on board, crewmembers segregated enslaved Africans by gender and then chained and packed them closely together in ship holds. Captives then endured up to several months of extreme temperatures, harsh weather, filthy living conditions, and contagious diseases in these ship holds as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

Detailed explanation-2: -The air in the hold was foul and putrid. Seasickness was common and the heat was oppressive. The lack of sanitation and suffocating conditions meant there was a constant threat of disease. Epidemics of fever, dysentery (the ‘flux’) and smallpox were frequent.

Detailed explanation-3: -At “best", the enslavers fed enslaved people beans, corn, yams, rice, and palm oil. However, enslaved African people were not always fed every day. If there was not enough food for the sailors (human traffickers) and the slaves, the enslavers would eat first, and the enslaved might not get any food.

Detailed explanation-4: -The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole ship’s cargo were confined together, it became absolutely pestilential .