Middle Passage

The transatlantic sea route along which enslaved Africans were forcibly transported from West Africa to the Americas from roughly the 16th through the 19th century. Historically and symbolically central to the African diaspora, it was characterized by brutal conditions—disease, overcrowding, and high mortality—yet also served as a conduit for the transmission of cultural traditions, resistance, and the forging of shared diasporic identities.

Claims that use this term

• Br’er Rabbit descends from an African hare trickster carried across the Middle Passage
• Post-Windrush mass migration marked another turn in the Middle Passage story.
• Middle Passage captives forged a shared diasporic identity through collective resistance
• Dysentery was the leading killer of Middle Passage captives
• Enslaved Africans carried healing-root traditions across the Middle Passage