Amazing Grace - Horrors of the Middle Passage

WARNING NOTICE: 

THIS VIDEO RECREATES WHAT HAPPENED WHEN AFRICANS WERE KIDNAPPED FROM THEIR HOMES AND FORCED INTO SLAVERY.  IT IS NOT EASY TO WATCH.  PROCEED WITH CAUTION.

Kidnapped Africans, captured as slaves, endured unimaginably horrific conditions aboard ship.  Sent from their African homelands to a “new world” not their own, many died during the crossing.  Sick people were deliberately drowned.  

This clip, from Amistad, graphically portrays what was legally acceptable during the years of the slave trade.

Credits

From Amistad (1997), written by David Franzoni, directed by Steven Spielberg and released by Dreamworks.  Copyright, all rights reserved, Dreamworks.  Clip used here, as fair use, for educational purposes.

The film features Djimon Hounsou (Cinque), Morgan Freeman (Theodore Joadson), Anthony Hopkins (John Quincy Adams) and Matthew McConaughey (Baldwin).  Cinematography by Janusz Kaminski.