Which ocean did the enslaved Africans cross on their way to North America?
What is the Atlantic Ocean?
100
Define dilemma.
What is a situation in which a person is forced to make a decision even though he or she does not like any of the choices?
100
True or False: Slaves on a slave ship in the Middle Passage had a lot of living space.
What is false?
100
Where were most slaves put to work?
a. gold and silver mines
b. household kitchens
c. grain and textile mills
d. sugar and tobacco plantations
What are sugar and tobacco plantations (d)?
100
What are two ways slaves kept hope alive?
Answers will vary. Religion, music, family gatherings.
200
How long did the Middle Passage take?
What is 21-90 days?
200
Name three items Europeans would trade for slaves?
Answers will vary. Possible answers: cloth, rum, salt, sugar, guns.
200
What are two ways slaves on the Middle Passage would react to being enslaved on the ship?
Answers will vary - jump overboard, rebel and attack the crew, refuse to eat, obey to maintain strength and survive.
200
What are the two ways slaves were sold in the American colonies?
What is at a "scramble" and at a slave auction?
200
Define "spiritual."
What is a type of religious song that developed among enslaved Africans and that expressed deep emotion?
300
How many slaves are estimated to have died on the Middle Passage?
What is 10 to 12 million?
300
Why would West Africans want guns?
What is to protect their village/families?
300
The slave trade was one part of a bigger system that included West Africa, North America, and Europe. What shape did this system of trade make?
What is a triangle?
300
Describe a slave auction in your own words.
Answers will vary. Slaves stood in front of a crowd on a platform called an auction block. Buyers bid against one another and the slaves were sold to the highest bidder. Families were separated and often never saw each other again.
300
A "griot" is...
What is a western African storyteller who recites the history of a tribe or family?
400
Describe the experience of an enslaved African on the Middle Passage?
Answers will vary.
400
What are two choices West Africans had when Europeans offered them guns for slaves?
Answers will vary. Refuse to take part, raid other villages and trade the captured prisoners, trade people who already in their own village as slaves/prisoners.
400
Define triangular trade.
What is the exchange of slaves and goods between Europe, the Americas, and West Africa, using shipping routes across the Atlantic Ocean?
400
What was an overseer's main job?
What is to supervise the work of slaves?
400
Why was it important for slaves to keep hope alive?
Answers will vary.
500
Sometimes the enslaved Africans were thrown overboard during the Middle Passage? What are 3 reasons this might happen?
Answers will vary. Possible answers - death, serious illness, food shortage, revolt.
500
Imagine you are a leader of a village in West Africa. A European shows up and offers you guns in exchange for slaves. Consider the choices you have. What would you choose and why?
Answers will vary.
500
Which of the three dilemmas do you consider the most difficult? Why?
Answers will vary.
500
Why did some slaves pretend not to understand what they were told to do?
What is it was a form of resistance?
500
What type of secret messages were carried in the slaves' songs?
Answers will vary. A signal that an escape was planned for that night; instructions about how to run away and reach freedom.