American (Atlantic) Slave Trade

Empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand emotion and situations,
and the capability to relate to them.
American Slave Trade
The American Slave Trade, otherwise known as the Atlantic Slave Trade,
or the peculiar institution was a process where Africans where moved
Americas to do slave work
What Happened?
Between 10 and 12 million were made slaves in the Americas
the times of 1500 to 1880
Right:
An image of the
Triangular Trade, where
manufactured goods are
traded for slaves in
Africa, slaves made to
work the land of the
Americas, produce raw
materials, given to
Europe to manufacture
and so on
Lack of Empathy
Due to the lack of empathy Africans where abused, and had to stay in
terrible living conditions.
On the boats to the Americas, 15% of people died, and for every 100
slaves going to the Americas, 40 died during the trip or in Africa
Conditions
Living conditions where terrible, some slaves having to work
48 hours straight in sweltering heat in sugar plantations.
On the boat, each slave had a space of less than 40cm^2 (its
like factory farming)

Above: An image of a slave ship, which at most could hold 400 slaves, each which
less than 40cm^2
Dehumanisation
Slaves were forced to work the lands, and in addition to that
slaves where dehumanised, treated exactly like cattle.
Slaves were not treated as simply people, they where a
commodity, a property of the owner, to do whatever the
owner wanted or pleased.

Right: An image of chattel slavery, and

slave-owners whipping a slave
Punishment
Slaves where punished: if they rebelled, did something
wrong, stole, or just for fun and laughs. Slave codes.
Where put in shackles, had head/neck gear that made it
unable to relax or it hurt, Chained to ground or hung, being
whipped or walking a treadmill
Putting a price on Life
The average slave on a sugar plantation died when they where
23. Slaves had a price, a price on their life.
Ten spotted sashes per slave, Three pieces flowered silk per
slave, Four pieces flowered linen per slave, twelve gallons of
brandy per slave, three cases of English spirits
You can see how a lack of empathy shows since they have the
ability to price millions of peoples lifes and to take them
away.
Motives
Motives include:
Greed
Technological advancements
Racism
Left: Slaves being forced into
ships by Europeans
Conclusion
Lack of empathy, as millions of innocent Africans where beat,
tortured and forced to work on land in which they where
trapped, unable to do what they wanted to do.
It isnt just Americans are to blame, it is the whole world,
and many generations ago our ancestors believed that
enslaving fellow humans to be okay to help the success of
their own.
Slavery is still going on today, but there are organisations and
the majority of the world that are fighting against that.