The journey of the Middle Passage is one of the most evocative images of slavery, taught in schools as an example of brutality. It was the sea voyage of no return. In this episode, we discover the realities of this horrific journey and what legacies we still live with.



Featuring Sowande Mustakeem, Associate Professor of History and African and African American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. This episode also features music from Slavery At Sea: The Book Soundtrack by Sowande Mustakeen which can be streamed and purchased here.

The full episode transcript can be found here.



CREDITS



Written and hosted by Moya Lothian-McLean

Editor and Producer is Renay Richardson

Researchers are Arisa Loomba and Dr. Alison Bennett

Production Assistant is Rory Boyle

Sound Design by Lex Adimora

Social Assets by /Forward Slash



This is a Broccoli Production
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In The Middle

Exploring the true story of British involvement in the transatlantic slave trade and how it touches every part of the nation. Hosted by Moya Lothian-McLean, a journalist and descendent of both Black African Slaves and White slave owners or overseers.

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Moya and Kris Manjapra discuss his book Black Ghost of Empire, a revelatory historical indictment of the long afterlife of slavery in the Atlantic world.
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In Conversation with Kris Manjapra

As abolitionist campaigns gained traction in the late 1700s, the population of formerly enslaved people grew. Those who had been enslaved in the British colonies were ‘freed’ - at first in dribs and drabs, then all at once via two landmark pieces of legislation in 1807 and 1834.

But a new question arose: what would the formerly enslaved do with their freedom?



Featuring historian and researcher, Melissa Bennett and Iyamide Thomas, NHS Engagement Lead, Sickle Cell Society, together they curated ‘The Krios of Sierra Leone’ exhibitions at the Museum of London.
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A Free Town

At the height of the British slave trade, there were no cameras to capture the experiences of the children who found themselves forced into enslavement. There are not even exact numbers for how many youths were sucked into the system - estimates suggest a quarter of the roughly 12 million Black Africans enslaved between the 16th and 19th centuries would be categorised as children. Their stories are some of the hardest to dig up - but people are persisting anyway.



Featuring Christine Whyte, lecturer in global history at the University of Glasgow.
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Think of the Children

In the last episode, ‘Abolition, Now part 1’,  I was talking with Historian Diana Patton about the real timeline of Aboliton and what Abolition really meant for those previously enslaved. Towards the end of the episode we began speaking about Apprenticeships and how those previously enslaved were then forced to work for the people who formerly owned them. Should they not want to work, the punishments were fast and brutal.
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Abolition, Now part 2

Most people know the basics of this moment. Josiah Wedgewood made some pottery, William Wilberforce made some speeches, John Newton wrote Amazing Grace, and boom! Britain’s narrative arc of national moral redemption was complete and slavery was abolished. Or at least – that’s what we’re told.



Featuring Historian of the Caribbean, Diana Paton.
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In The Middle

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