Eyewitness Account: The Kidnapping of Africans for Slaves

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Dr. Alexander Falconbridge describes what he saw and heard about how slaves were captured inland and sold on the coast to slave traders. Falconbridge, a medical doctor, served aboard several slave ships working between the West African coast and the Caribbean in the late 1700s. He described his experiences in a popular book published in 1788. He became active in the Anti-Slavery Society and was appointed Governor of a colony established for freed slaves on the coast of modern-day Sierra Leone. His service was brief as he died in 1788 shortly after his appointment.

Griot: Dr. Alexander Falconbridge

Posted: 1788

 

"There is great reason to believe, that most of the Negroes shipped off from the coast of Africa, are kidnapped. But the extreme care taken by the black traders to prevent the Europeans from gaining any intelligence of their modes of proceeding; the great distance inland from whence the Negroes are brought; and our ignorance of their language (with which, very frequently, the black traders themselves are equally unacquainted), prevent our obtaining such information on this head as we could wish.

I have, however, by means of occasional inquiries, made through interpreters, procured some intelligence relative to the point. . . . From these I shall select the following striking instances: While I was in employ on board one of the slave ships, a Negro informed me that being one evening invited to drink with some of the black traders, upon his going away, they attempted to seize him. As he was very active, he evaded their design, and got out of their hands. He was, however, prevented from effecting his escape by a large dog, which laid hold of him, and compelled him to submit. These creatures are kept by many of the traders for that purpose; and being trained to the inhuman sport, they appear to be much pleased with it. I was likewise told by a Negro woman that as she was on her return home, one evening, from some neighbors, to whom she had been making a visit by invitation, she was kidnapped; and, notwithstanding she was big with child, sold for a slave. This transaction happened a considerable way up the country, and she had passed through the hands of several purchasers before she reached the ship. A man and his son, according to their own information, were seized by professed kidnappers, while they were planting yams, and sold for slaves.

This likewise happened in the interior parts of the country, and after pass­ing through several hands, they were purchased for the ship to which I belonged. It frequently happens that those who kidnap others are themselves, in their turns, seized and sold.... During my stay on the coast of Africa, I was an eye-witness of the following transaction: a black trader invited a Negro, who resided a lit­tle way up the country, to come and see him. After the entertainment was over, the trader proposed to his guest, to treat him with a sight of one of the ships lying in the river. The unsuspicious countryman read­ily consented, and accompanied the trader in a canoe to the side of the ship, which he viewed with pleasure and astonishment. While he was thus employed, some black traders on board, who appeared to be in the secret, leaped into the canoe, seized the unfortunate man, and dragging him into the ship, immediately sold him.

The preparations made at Bonny by the black traders, upon set­ting out for the fairs which are held up the country, are very consider­able. From twenty to thirty canoes, capable of containing thirty or forty Negroes each, are assembled for this purpose; and such goods put on board them as they expect will be wanted for the purchase of the number of slaves they intend to buy. When their loading is com­pleted, they commence their voyage, with colors flying, and music playing; and in about ten or eleven days, they generally return to Bonny with full cargoes.

As soon as the canoes arrive at the trader's landing place, the purchased Negroes are cleaned, and oiled with palm-oil; and on the following day they are exposed for sale to the captains. When the Negroes, whom the black traders have to dispose of, are shown to the European purchasers, they first examine them rela­tive to their age. They then minutely inspect their persons, and inquire into the state of their health, if they are afflicted with any infirmity, or are deformed, or have bad eyes or teeth; if they are lame, or weak in their joints, or distorted in the back, or of a slender make, or are narrow in the chest; in short, if they have been, or are afflicted in any manner, so as to render them incapable of much labor; if any of the foregoing defects are discovered in them, they are rejected. But if approved of, they are generally taken on board the ship the same evening. The purchaser has liberty to return on the following morning, but not afterwards, such as upon re-examination are found exceptionable.

The traders frequently beat those Negroes which are objected to by the captains, and use them with great severity. It matters not whether they are refused on account of age, illness, deformity, or for any other reason. At New Calabar, in particular . . . the traders, when any of their Negroes have been objected to, have dropped their canoes under the stern of the vessel, and instantly beheaded them, in sight of the captain. As soon as the wretched Africans, purchased at the fairs, fall into the hands of the black traders, they experience an earnest of those dreadful sufferings which they are doomed in future to undergo. . . .

They are brought from the places where they are pur­chased to Bonny, etc. in canoes; at the bottom of which they lie, hav­ing their hands tied with a kind of willow twigs, and a strict watch is kept over them. Their usage in other respects, during the time of the passage, which generally lasts several days, is equally cruel. Their allowance of food is so scanty, that it is barely sufficient to support nature. They are, besides, much exposed to the violent rains which frequently fall here, being covered only with mats that afford but a slight defense; and as there is usually water at the bottom of the canoes, from their leaking, they are scarcely ever dry."

 

Source

Alexander Falconbridge, An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa(1788);, Atlantic Slave Trade (1969); Matheson, William Law, Great Britain and the Slave Trade, 1839-1865 (1967).

How to Cite: "Slave Trade: the African Connection, ca 1788" EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2007).

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8 Comments

  1. google small url on September 5, 2012 at 11:06 PM

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  2. Brek on July 25, 2013 at 9:06 PM

    This account brings vividness to something that would otherwise be mostly lost to the passage of time, buried in cellular memory.

  3. Lthomas on September 26, 2013 at 10:41 AM

    This makes everything so vivid in my mind and I’m hurt at the fact my ancestors went through being taken from a regular routine and forced into slavery. My heart hurts so deep to read this and then look around me and realize that we are not united as a race today. Thanks for posting this.

  4. Sherman R Austin on December 19, 2013 at 8:45 AM

    As a teacher of African Lit and African American History, and a Member of NTU Rites of Passage Program, I take great joy in the study of my heritage. knowing from whence I came is integral in knowing where I go.

  5. Francesco Pettinato on April 23, 2015 at 5:05 AM

    A really shameful historical page (slavery) that must not be forgotten by those countries that claim to be democratics and respectulf of every person. Most rich countries in the world have bases their fortune on the pain, affliction and agony of people whose only “guilt” was to have the wrong skin color…

  6. margo dunmore on November 4, 2015 at 11:48 AM

    i am 48 years old and just discovered Honorable Minister Khallid Muhammad on youtube yesterday and i have been crying ever since He mentioned You in one of his Ministering on youtube. Thank you so much!!….

  7. Adedayo on November 15, 2021 at 9:03 PM

    We should not forget the role played by our people in selling their own people to strangers. It seems to me that we need more of introspection than blaming other races for our problems.

  8. Top 7 Slavery Myths on December 8, 2022 at 2:32 PM

    […] Eyewitness account: The kidnapping of Africans for slaves. America’s Black Holocaust Museum. (2020, August 21). Retrieved October 26, 2022, from https://www.abhmuseum.org/the-capture-of-africans-for-slaves-an-eyewitness-account/ […]

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