History of the Slave Trade

The trafficking of enslaved Africans lasted 400 years and is one of the most shameful chapters in human history.

Between 1500 and 1900 it's estimated that around 12 million African men, women, and children were forcibly taken from their homes by Europeans before being cruelly transported thousands of miles across the Atlantic. It was the largest single forced migration of people in history, and its trauma spans generations. Those who survived the horrific "Middle Passage" would then be sold, often separated from their families, and put to work as enslaved workers on plantations throughout the New World, their labor, knowledge, and skills stolen by their enslavers. These enslaved people had no rights, were tortured daily, and their children were stolen and sold away, among dozens of other human rights abuses that occurred by rote on the plantations.

While this inhumane trade was eventually abolished in the 19th century, the scars remain, and the lasting impact is still being felt by communities around the world.

History of the Slave Trade seeks to tell the story of the this inhuman and inhumane practice — from its origins to its abolition. Inside these pages, you'll come to understand the human experience of the cruelties of transport across the Middle Passage, the horrific realities suffered by millions of captive men, women, and children packed aboard slave ships shoulder to shoulder. Consider the lasting impact on Africa and what life was like for the millions of enslaved people who survived the trip. Explore the legacies of slavery and how the effects are still being felt in the modern world.

Learn about the fight for freedom, how enslaved people resisted and rebelled against their cruel captivity, the Civil War, and the bitter disappointment of Reconstruction. Learn the history of Frederick Douglas, who went from slave to statesman, orating for abolition, equality, and women's suffrage. Explore Jim Crow laws, the Massacre on Black Wall Street, the impact of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, and others. Learn how the American penal system still represses minority populations even to this day, the rise of Black Lives Matter, the call to defund the police, and the ongoing debate about financial reparations.

A must-read for every student of history, History of the Slave Trade tells the true and horrendous story of the enslavement of millions of people.