An Unsuccessful Rebellion

The year is 1785, and a woman is being put on a slave ship. She is elegant, energetic, and musically talented. Her name is Sarah. She spends some time on the slave ship before it seems that she has become a clear favorite of not just the captain, but the entire crew as well. It is not long before she has earned the trust of everyone on the boat. Soon, a mutiny is in its final stages. The slaves figure out how to free themselves and attempt to take control of the boat, unfortunately they do not get far before they are stopped by the crew. As the tension dies down and slaves are punished, it becomes clear that although she was definitely involved, Sarah will not be punished too heavily. Sarah will live to be quite old, and carry on the traditions of African song and dance. This story is an important depiction of turmoil on the African slave-ships of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, as it shows the great lengths that slaves would go to in order to have even a small chance of freedom, even performing "favors" for crew members and the captain in order to gain their trust. This very personal story of the harsh conditions of the slave ships of the Transatlantic Slave Trade says many things about the cruelty and ignorance of the European peoples of this time. They were so oblivious to the fact that slaves were people too that they packed them on ships and treated them as animals, or just profit. The slave trade was a very dark time in human history, and the slave ships were the vessels of cruelty which drove this era.