The journey from Africa was a gruesome and debilitating one which saw slaves
being packed on cargo like sardines and force to the Caribbean on a journey
known as the middle passage (click here to read). The journey was only half of the story as when they arrived in the Caribbean to work on sugar plantations the horrible conditions intensified. A typical day on the sugar plantation in the
Caribbean went something like this…
When slaves arrived on the islands, they were prepared to be sold to slave owners.
Their skins were washed and oiled and put up to be auctioned to the highest bid coming from the various slave owners. Family was not promoted during the era of slavery and therefore families were separated and sold to different slave owners.
Slaves were immediately put to work once sold and the days generally started at 6am at the crack of dawn.
Slave owners provided Africans with weekly rations of food which included salt
herrings, mackrel, potato and maize. Africans were expected to make meals for
themselves and were often forced to supplement their diets with other foods from the wild, or provisions from their village gardens.