Life on board slave ships and the Zong massacre
Description
A description of conditions on board the slave ships and an outline of the Zong case of 29 November 1781. Poor weather conditions and inept navigation resulted in a journey that took months rather than weeks. To maximise his profits, Captain Luke Collingwood took the decision to murder 122 of the slaves, throwing them overboard in order to claim insurance money.
Classroom Ideas
The Zong case can be used as a case study into conditions on board slave ships. Replicate the dark cramped conditions of a slave ship in class, seating students together on the floor within marked out spaces. Discuss the morality of the legal case, whereby murdered African slaves were treated as mere cargo. Is this attitude very far removed from the existing view of slaves as property? Look into the effect the Zong affair had on public opinion and research the campaigning of Granville Sharp and Olaudah Equiano to bring an end to slavery.
Trade in enslaved African people
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