The middle passage
This was without a doubt the most horrific experience of my life. We were taken from the shed with chains around our wrists and ankles they had already started to rub. Then we started to walk everyone was walking, the whitemen were shouting, shouting words none of us understood. There were cries coming from the slower children at the back of the line as they were kicked and whipped to speed them up.
We were walking for days with the hot sun beating down on us, our clothes so badly ripped we got no protection this only added to our sores. The chains were tight around our ankles I took small careful steps trying to minimise the pain. I started to think about Africa how we used to play out in the fields with the long grass, running and hiding, all the parties in the evenings with my friends and family then. I felt the whip slash my back between the shoulder blades to speed me up the pain was awful but it took my mind of the soars on my wrists and ankles. We walked for miles it seemed never ending, the more we walked the further the place we were going to seemed away. Then we finally got to water, a lot of water, suddenly I thought about how thirsty I was. Then in front of my eyes a massive thing floating on the water, It looked amazing but we couldn’t stop to admire it we were dragged onto the decks. Above me was this massive sheet of white, then I felt the sharp pain of the whip across my shoulders again. I stumbled over the chains that were around my feet and I was shouted at I cried out in pain as the shock of the pain hit me. The Men were taken down into this dark hole in the bottom of the ship and the women and children went down another hole. Some people tried to escape but got whipped and shouted at, they cried out in pain as the whips hit there shoulders, babies and children cried out for there parents as they were taken down into the holdal. The darkness was shocking, it took ages for my eyes to adjust to the light. I was laid down in this cramped space surrounded by people. I couldn’t communicate with them, there was hardly enough room for me to sit up but I couldn’t move anyway my chains I could feel them rubbing away at my skin causing flesh to gape out. I couldn’t get to sleep that night the people lying next to me were crying out in pain crying for help but no one came I could feel the rats running across my face eating away at the open flesh on my legs and back.
