Middle Passages: The Multiple Forced Migrations of Enslaved Africans

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article proposes a linguistic shift for scholars of trans-Atlantic slavery regarding the quintessential term ‘the Middle Passage' to the plural ‘Middle Passages'. As a singular noun, ‘the Middle Passage' conforms with the ‘triangular trade' which represented the three-way relationship between Europe, Africa and the Americas. The term almost exclusively encompasses the North Atlantic, failing to explore South Atlantic trading routes. By changing our language, we can look deeper into the multiple forced journeys of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic world. Through application of plurality, we can better study people's multiple ‘Middle Passages' from the ancient silk roads to the slave castles and forts along the African littoral in a system of movement that does not belittle the horrors of the Atlantic oceanic passages. Indeed, multiple ‘Middle Passages' as a concept exacerbates the experiences of enslaved persons through continual uprooting and journeys. ‘The Middle Passage' is evocative of a peregrination preceded with a beginning and succeeded with an ending; while the pluralistic ‘Middle Passages’ forces us to recognize the multiple complex facets of journeys. For many enslaved persons, there existed no end to continual relocations on arrival in the Americas and people were in a constant state of flux.