The Last Years of the Atlantic Slave Trade | Free Documentary History

[Music] between the 15th and 19th centuries a vast slave trade was established between Europe Africa and America approximately 12 million men women and children were sold as slaves on the coast of Africa torn from their Homeland and transported across the Atlantic by white slave traders to work in the new world this trade grew considerably over a century and a half and resisted several attempts to abolish it slavery was officially abolished in France on April 27th 1848 stories from slaves Captain's Log books and letters written by ship owners come together to form the vibrant framework of

this story of slavery and bring to life the fates of Yona and tqi Born Free in a village in the Gulf of Guinea [Music] [Applause] fore [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] let [Applause] [Music] I couldn't say how many days we worked for I lost all sense of time but it was several weeks during which more unfortunate people like us joined us we had no idea what to expect and could not even begin to imagine what they head 1825 the slave trade which had been banned in France for 7 years continued in secret between Africa

and the Americas although slavery had been abolished in France in 1794 Napoleon reestablished it emboldened by The Lax attitude shown by authorities slave ship owners in not Bordeaux and the West Indies continued their lucrative partnership ships delivered arms and merchandise from Europe and America in exchange for African slaves sold to the French West Indies and Cuba these ships would then return to France loaded with merchandise from the plantations coffee sugar and Coca [Music] beans one winter morning in 1825 the brig lanon from not set sail towards the Gulf of Guinea it would take 3 months

for it to reach its destination on the Southwest coast of Africa land Theo on the 16th of April 1825 having reached the coast of Africa 98 days after leaving non the beon Fon dropped anchor at the mouth of a river the supply of slaves was under the control of local traffickers who took advantage of Tribal wars famines and raids to take people captive sometimes they allowed the white slave traders to negotiate directly with the local population these slave traders who came from Europe and America learned how to comply with the lengthy negotiation rituals after making

us wait 12 days King pel finally agreed to an audience I decided to take the ship surgeon along with me for him it would be an edifying experience as he had never visited these parts before and I doubt that he had any idea of how negotiations were conducted I hadn't told him a thing what do you need Captain 300 parrots and mules half in pieces of Indian [Music] cloth I can only give you between 160 and 200 pieces then allow me to trade with the natives I considerate we waited many days and night with me

were women and children from our village and from Villages farther away that I didn't know the men were in separate HS some of them had fought back but others were too weak to put up a fight it's a beautiful gun much more beautiful than the last ones there are 120 Dutch ones like this and 800 French ones like the last lot do you think it would hit the water J his majesty could easily hit it and even something much smaller trading can now begin I got what I wanted we can choose the slaves ourselves and

King pepel has authorized us to trade with the natives do it on it own [Music] I [Music] over here before setting sail the crew reorganizes the deck a wooden fence with a door separates the bridge tall Nets are tied to the outer rail to stop people falling overboard the ship's Carpenters have have the height of the lower deck to create another deck on either side of a corridor the human cargo is stored on two levels Captain these are my recommendations you are already familiar with them as we have already worked together in the past yet

as they are crucial to the success of our Expedition I'm not afraid to say them again Endeavor to choose good specimens and select the younger ones between the ages of 15 and 35 maximum aside from the fact that they are more resistant to exhaustion caused by the long sea Crossing once you are an America you'll get a better price for them make sure that you have between a quarter and a third of Indian cloth ah at least 5'2 in tall stocky are neither lame nor blemished a full set of teeth a full head of hair

and in excellent Health don't be ashamed to lick their skin to taste their sweat to check that they haven't contracted any diseases fine as for the women choose them young of childbearing age or soon to be of that age but make sure that the women account for no more than a third of the men as for the Negro children they must not account for more than onethird of the women today I had all our slaves branded with the letters lb for Leon so that King PPP cannot swap them for specimens of a lesser value before

we have got them on board the ship the first thing I saw when we got to the coast was the Sea of course but also the ship I had never seen anything so big on the water but my surprise soon turned to fear when I realized the ship was waiting for its cargo and that cargo was us although I tried my best not to show it I was terrified when they made us get on board I remember while the others were saying that we were headed for beyond the great sea and that white people would

eat us take all necessary precautions to avoid the spread of parasites and diseases that Negroes carry and which are often the cause of loss of life amongst our slaves to this effect have them shaved all over or wash their heads and bodily hair in vinegar do not forget to wash their eyes lime fruits which you find easily in that part of the world are very good for this for too often once at their destination the slaves that have partially or entirely lost their eyesight can no longer be sold competition between ships has resulted in an

increase in prices therefore we shall only take 28 6 slaves out of the 300 we initially wanted and the 360 that Leon Fon could have held if we reduced the amount of space per slave these 286 slaves cost the same amount as 360 would have cost 2 years ago 3,000 pieces of Indian cloth and from not 1,400 guns and swords, 1500 barrels of gunpowder and bags of lead 400 pieces of China 120 cases of glass beads 10,000 l of Brandy and 5,000 iron ingots deep inside the hall it was impossible to move and impossible to

sleep we were separated from the men that first night I kept my eyes wide open I wanted to wake up back in our village seeing my mother's face today the 1st of September we cast off and set sail after 137 days at anchor we're missing 14 pieces but I don't want to wait any longer give me give for how did she get a hold of this piece of cloth without anyone noticing as I held them all responsible for the death of that negro woman I ordered each sailor to be given 20 lashes on the rear

deck I also told them to be more Vigilant from now on clearly death is less frightening for these damn neg grows them the journey towards a future they know nothing about to avoid the outbreak of a rebellion they will take us up on the deck in small numbers men and women separately there we were fed and washed we could stretch our lamps breathe fresh air and see each other in natural light and we could look out of the sea go on make them sing and dance mind that you make our negro sing and dance as

often as is possible at least twice a week music and dancing are so important to them that without these they may voluntarily slip into a state of Affliction that often leads to death fore fore foree we were scared of getting ill we heard stomach Crums diarrhea burning fevers and then cold shivers some of us died some of the white people too we never knew what they did with the bodies wait are you planning on doing an autopsy on him it might be useful to know what he died of in case any other Negroes catch the

same it was dentry don't open him up for that let me show you something several of my colleagues agreed that negro inferior ority is due to the specific anatomical structure of this part of the brain known as the Corpus kosum which is smaller in size than ours many of the Negroes think they are going to be eaten if they find out one of them has been cut open it'll only encourage them to think they were right to be scared so put this away now I don't intend to have to quash a rebellion with Negroes taking

control of the ship because they're afraid they might end up in the Butcher Block we we the stink Down in the Hole was unbearable the cramp space the Heat and the fact that there were so many of us meant that we all sweed profusely added to this was the filthy states of the latrines the air was so piled it made it hard to breathe the find space in which the captives are held and the need to keep them Chained and Shackled contribute to the proliferation of harmful microorganisms that cause disease death can be prevented by

bringing the Negroes up on Deck to ail them and wash them down in seawater [Music] this one's dead let be sure to log every negro death and mind that you throw any dead bodies overboard at night to prevent this sorry spectacle from Awakening feelings of rebellion among the other Negroes be sure to wash down the space the dead negro occupied and scrubbed with strong vinegar as all sorts of diseases can come out of their bodies and spread and of all human bodies the bodies of negroes are of the kind that manifest these sorts of infections

most often cleanliness is a task that must be repeated tirelessly the health of your crew depends on it land deoy port side 16th of October 1825 the beon Fon has the French West Indies in its sights the brig had a good Crossing much faster than we ever could have hoped for 46 days from the coast of Africa that's 18 days less than the fastest journey I have done to this day our speed spared us the loss of life that a longer Journey would probably have caused out of the 286 slaves that we embarked with only

16 were lost six negro men five Negro women three negro girls and two negro boys representing a 6% loss in takings meanwhile out of the 32 crew members we lost four Sailors and the ship's boy in the last 3 months the governor has had two ship sees before they had time to offload their Negroes it's not that the governor has got it into his head to enforce the law Banning the slave trade nor is he a newfound liking for Negroes but he is currently Building New Roads Bridges and churches so he has been requisitioning the

Negroes from slave ships and making them work for him [Music] luckily I have found three colonists who I trust and who desperately need more Negroes we will make it look like your Negroes are already old property belonging to these colonists and that the sail will take place in their names officially you will just be acting as their representative I have all the documents needed should there be a control check the local police and the Customs officers are quite easygoing but there's a new Young magistrate who recently arrived from France he was on the same boat

as me he's everywhere asking lots of questions to colonists and slaves it's better to have everything in order just in case he starts poking his nose into our business on the day of the sale fore fore spee spee B CH f iee fore spee [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] h tarii and I wanted to have the same Master we wanted to pretend to be man and wife but I didn't dare go over to him and neither did he he stayed where he [Music] was [Music] [Music] we sold 270 slaves of which 136 were divided into

18 lots of 3 to six members 12 families of 3 to four members and 88 pieces of Indian CL cloth sold individually as there were several takers from some Lots I gave preference to those who could pay outright whether payment was in merchandise or money the two families who didn't find any takers were broken up then the Negro boys and girls were sold separately however for those families who procured a lot of interest they were auctioned and we got much more for them than for many other Lots look at these muscles this mule is sure

to be hardworking 180 bidding starts at 180 200 sir 200 230 I have 230 I have 300 350 come on don't let such a fine specimen get away 950 yes sir 1,000 1,00 any higher 1,00 sold to Mr bonfond now we have an outstanding parrot I shall start bidding at 150 180 I have 180 220 250 280 300 we have 300 300 330 look at these presss look at these presss and this belly which has not been spoiled by pregnancy these buttocks so firm and muscular 350 I have 350 400 over here 400 who will

give me any fire sold to Mr Dart for 400 our third item is another exceptional speciate very good uncle his torso I admit I wanted her look at his shoulders when we got to the dwelling or has they called it the Master's property a priest made a speech telling us how lucky we were thanks to the white people who brought us here who would enter the family of God and our souls will be saved although we had our own Gods he explained that here there was only one God and if we didn't live in his

love we would burn in hell for all eternity I will put my spirit in you and you will follow my laws you will obey my Commandments and you will be faithful to me step forward your name is aist and then they gave us new names no one asked us our real names your name is they acted like we didn't have names they just told me my name was Deli your name is De from that day on I was never called anything else you were Jean Baptist later on I learned that toi had been renamed St

John your elders will teach you the running of the estate if you obey if you work hard you will be treated well however any Act of insubordination any attempt at Rebellion or trying to escape will be severely punished in accordance with what's been set out by the law any slave who strikes his master or his master's wife or their children and this ACT results in bruising or drawing blood will be sentenced to death and if you try to escape you will will be punished for a first attempt The Fugitive will be branded on the shoulder

with a Flur deise for a second The Fugitive will have their Shin flayed for a third attempt The Fugitive will be sentenced to death the commander Rings the bear at Sunrise but when the days are short we must wake in the dark this is followed by mass as they call it a sort of prayer for their God and then we got to walk we each have a patch of land you can grow what you like on it and what you rap is yours you can eat it or sell it but you can only tend to

your patch on Saturdays they call it Saturday Garden when you sell something keep the money it's yours but never leave it in the heart there are Dison Negroes who steal money some women buy back their freedom with their bodes but not here because this one he has a wife but he nephew's place is different he takes one of the new ones into his bed and sometimes if she's clever he falls in love with her and gives her back her freedom but not always because the Master's nephew sleeps with all the new ones but never gives

them their freedom you can buy your own body back which means buying your freedom but the majority of negroes who walk in this cursed country die working before they have been able to save enough money it takes so many years to save up that you all and useless by the time you have enough and what can you do once you free you wander the streets without any walk with no money to eat or sleep you will see fre slaves when you go into town you will see poor Negroes who look like old wrecks and you

will see a few Negroes who managed to earn a bit of money because they served the white folks so well that they were given bonuses but they too have become white folks in their minds without question it has been poisoned it's dying this could only have been caused by poison what poison I don't know but it's definitely poison today we lost an ox along with the animals we lost last week that makes three ox and two mules there are poisoners amongst you this crime is punishable by death if any one of you knows who's guilty

come forward at once or you'll be charged with collusion I hold you all responsible you will pay for the dead livestock by working Saturdays and Sundays for the next month if you're not happy then hand over the guilty I'll lift the sanction in the meantime go back to your huts [Music] immediately [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign no introduction necessary Mr dto people speak of you so often I knew you'd turn up soon they speak of you also Mr desart my wife welcome Madame in France people like you have made assumptions knowing nothing about the real

situation in the colonies you have just arrived but once you spent some time here you will understand the need to preserve the established order through slavery there are no workers who want to come from France even if there were they would never survive the climate of this godforsaken country only Negroes used to the heat of the tropics can work here yet this race we must command are fish and treacherous they serpents isn't that a little excessive Negroes and people of color have one thing in mind and it makes me shudder to destroy the whites Pier

I hope we'll find our daughter a good husband so she may contribute to a race of honest people while we continue to diminish the race of Rogues that is my mission too Mr desart you know I've often secretly watched the revelries you can't imagine how utterly decent the movements of the two dancers can be do you see all the mados they're almost all the offspring of married settlers men who would never shake the hand of a negro man won't think twice about betting a negro Woman by forc to satisfy their desires I found out where

toku was by questioning the other slaves he did the same and came to find me several times at night this went on for a few weeks until the day two slaves die from those so-call poisoning and P decid forbid us from receiving any visitors it was at that moment that we decided to run away to be maroon as people call thing I can't tolerate that some of you tried to escape all of you know what happens when you try to run away but the government has asked us to stop the mutilations so s and Deli

will not have their ears cut off but the law requires that they be punished 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 I was put to walk again the next morning but for the next 30 night I was for asleep in a hole 1 with my feet Shackled 15 16 before locking me away the stward rubbed my wounds with a mixture of lemon and chili pepper supposedly it was to prevent infection but in reality it was UN added torture thinking back to that moment I would have preferred to have died from G green rather than

go through that 67 68 as for tqi he spent 3 days to a steak with no food or water after that his master pad's nephew came to get him toii could no longer work he had to be carried in a c Pier dard isn't the worst he's very Sever and brutally punishes his slaves when he thinks they've done wrong but he calls the doctor if a slave is sick has their children looked after by servants while the parents work and doesn't Force pregnant woman to walk but there aren't many pregnant slaves only two babies have

been born here this year most women prefer to make their bellies bleed rather than give birth to a slave child bonon P Dead's nephew he's hard and cruel the women there walk until their water breaks and I send back to work the next day tqi told me that he weeps everyone even children and he has beaten slaves to death I have to go now before the market ends H leave your yarn you've been gone long enough as it is you know some of the slaves have learned to read so they know the law a master

may beat his slaves but he doesn't have the right to kill them a man like bonon deserves to be in prison for what he does to his slaves I don't have the same power as the police here I can only ask but I promise I will you can sniff around wherever you like I couldn't care less I have nothing to hide no one has anything to hide yet every day the governor receives a letter requesting i' be sent back to France on the next boat where would you like to start wherever you please no I've

always been well traded and wellfed I work yes but I can rest whenever ever I need to you've never been beaten never what are you afraid of of being beaten if you speak out in your country do you expect to touch search the hearts of the people in those far away lands do you expect them to mix their tears with the tears of the poor black people tell me will the slave be seated on a Golden Throne will that make him any less of a slave would that make came any less the property of another

man I've already said too much I saw a plantation owner take an iron trunk lock the poor victim of his tyranny inside it and place it near the heat of the fire to cause excruciating pain a young man told me that in order to be able to recognize his slaves he had the ears of six slaves cut off I watched a negro woman who had stolen a duck be given 50 lashings then have her wounds rubbed with lemon and chili she was tied up outside and left for two weeks to pay for the terrible crime

that she pleaded guilty to I saw I'll stop there I'm tired of describing these atrocities when you get back to France be very careful that your servant only writes when you are present these Scoundrels use every trick there is to send messages back here telling other Negroes about equality and freedom some even send messages to the colonies demanding the abolition of slavery ah speak of the devil and loow he appears I think he's pleased we finally decided to send him back I wish you a pleasant journey raw and refined sugar coffee cocoa beans Indigo cotton

pepper from Mahogany the hold and lower decks of libon Fon are loaded with Goods which as well as money was used to pay for [Music] slaves at my Master's nephew's estate they found the cses of other day livestock Bona accused toii and two other slaves use and Solitude who was pregnant of poisoning the livestock my female Elder knew that bonan wanted to punish tariki for speaking to the Magistrate who had recently left the island the judges sentenced all three of them to death they waited for Solitude to give both before hanging [Music] her I asked

to speak to my Master P Des I swore the evidence was faked and toqi was innocent he refused to intervene later I begged him to buy solitude's child he agreed and freed the child naming him agrial [Music] [Music] [Music] that normally baptized lives like tqi was supposed to be buried in a cemetery but they refused I searched for a long time but never found him I [Music] we you [Music] [Music] to by sorry Lord [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] fore we [Music] wee by sorry Lord for me [Music] again [Music]