James Stout

They're not yelling at him.

They're not treating him as a subhuman, right?

They're just doing this awful thing to him.

And as an 11-year-old, it's really weird for him because they're being so nice while they do this awful thing.

Like, it's kind of a head fuck, right?

And yeah, he generally enjoys good food and is, you know, kept relatively healthy this whole time.

And this ends as soon as he's sold onto a slaving vessel.

Quote,

nor had i the least desire to taste anything i now wished for the last friend death to relieve me but soon to my grief two of the white men offered me eatables and on my refusing to eat one of them held me fast by the hands and laid me across i think the windlass and tied my feet while the other flogged me severely i had never experienced anything of this kind before

And although not being used to water, I naturally feared that element the first time I saw it.

Yet nevertheless, could I have got over the nettings, I would have jumped over the side.

But I could not.

And besides, the crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down on the decks, lest we should leap into the water.

And I have seen some of these poor African prisoners most severely cut for attempting to do so and hourly whipped for not eating.

Now, he is, again, 11 as this is happening to him.

This is about 1756 when he's transported first to the West Indies where he witnesses the auctioning of slaves to plantation owners.

But he's not sold himself because he's really sick.

Like, he's just not worth anything in the eyes of these people because it seems like he's dying.

So the Dutch take him back on board the slave ship and take him to America.

And he gets better enough during that time that he's sold to a Virginia plantation owner.