Don Wildman

We should describe this experience.

How long were they held before they were put to sea?

I'm being glib when I say that.

I agree with you.

Sure.

I mean that to put the onus on those who are using these people for their own good.

Of course, free labor becomes another term later on.

Yes, it was a dehumanization, a conscious dehumanization of these individuals.

The voyage would take up to two months.

And by middle passage, we're talking about a triangle, basically, that there is a... This is the second leg, right, of what essentially is this whole economic diagram.

How so?

Where is a good part to place the story of American slavery in this in this paradigm?

I'll be back with more American history after this short break.

This is the cash crop of Jamestown at that time.

That, of course, will spread far and wide in different kinds of efforts, like in rice and, of course, in cotton later on.

This begins what becomes the plantation system of production through the 1600s, spreading upwards to the Chesapeake.

The rise of rice, as I say, down in South Carolina depends on the landscape and the geography.

Sullivan's Island in particular was interesting as a tiny quarantine station in the Charleston Harbor, which is a huge harbor and ideal for so much.

This was a point of entry for 40 to 50 percent of enslaved Africans brought to North America during that period, I suppose.

It was likened to an Ellis Island of sorts.