THE recent memorials to the atrocities committed by Nazi Germany as well as the way the Palestinians of Gaza have resisted attempts to wipe them out has made me think about the centuries-old attempts to eliminate Africans.

No! I do not think this is exaggerating what has happened to people of African descent during centuries of humiliation and exploitation. What happened was mass murder, torture on a mega-industrial scale and centuries of expecting people of African descent to be grateful for what we have.

Significant among the genocidal attacks on Africans was, of the course, the transatlantic slave trade which ran from the 15th to the 19th century.

Africans have never just stood by and allowed themselves to be murdered. There are countless examples of Africans, even after passing through the so-called “gates of no return” at the slave forts, fighting back against their captures.

In fact many historians now believe that there were active rebellions on these ships in around 10 per cent of the roughly 36,000 shipments of enslaved Africans across the notorious Middle Passage.

In one, in 1742, the Jolly Batchelor was attacked by enslaved Africans while it was at dock in what became known as the Sierra Leone River.

The crew were killed during the fighting and the victorious Africans freed themselves and the people who were being held captive in the hold of the ship.

In another in 1752, the Bristol-based ship, The Marlborough, was taken over by enslaved Africans while it was sailing across the Atlantic. Many of the crew were killed and those who survived were forced to sail the ship back to Africa from where the enslaved Africans were freed.

One of the most famous rebellions recorded was on board The Amistad in 1839. The ship was carrying enslaved Africans to a Spanish-owned plantation on Cuba. A group of Africans managed to escape from their chains and took control of the ship, killing several of the crew in the process.

The Africans were eventually recaptured and a court hearing was called to decide their fate. In a landmark ruling, the US Supreme Court granted the enslaved Africans their freedom.

This makes me enormously proud. I have no way of knowing the truth but I like to picture my ancestors being part of any uprisings on the ships they were forced onto.

Historians have estimated that something in excess of two million Africans died during the Middle Passage. Probably an underestimate.

Many died due to cramped conditions, which allowed diseases like measles and smallpox to quickly spread. Unsanitary conditions led to contaminated drinking water, leading to dysentery, diarrhoea and dehydration. Many also arrived at their destination covered in sores and suffering from fever.

Africans were placed below deck, with males and females separated. Men and boys were placed toward the front and women and girls toward the back. 

During the voyage across the Middle Passage, Africans were usually fed only once or twice a day. Some refused to eat, as a form of protest against their abduction. If they refused, they were often force-fed by their captors.

But many Africans also chose to throw themselves into the sea when the chance presented itself — favouring death to enslavement.

Sharks are said to have regularly followed slave ships so that they could feast on Africans who were thrown overboard or who chose death over captivity.

These deaths are why I often refer to the Atlantic Ocean as a sacred burial ground.
 
The Middle Passage usually took more than seven weeks, with the length of the voyage depending on weather conditions in the Atlantic Ocean. 

Even after arriving in the so-called New World, some Africans escaped from their captors. They formed “Maroon Colonies” in remote regions of the colonial empires.

For those forced onto plantations life expectancy was around five years. They simply worked the Africans to death and replaced them with a new batch as they died out.

Rebellion also continued on the plantations. Among them was the Sam Sharp Rebellion, otherwise known as the Great Jamaican Slave Revolt of 1831-32. This was an 11-day uprising by around 60,000 enslaved Africans.

The uprising was led by an African Baptist deacon, Sam Sharp. Although the uprising was brutally suppressed by the British, it is widely recognised as having played a major role in the eventual abolition of slavery throughout the British empire in 1834.

We were never meant to survive enslavement — at least not intact. Many of us did not but the fact that I am able to sit here and tap out my ramblings on a laptop is testament to the strength of my ancestors who went before me.

Without them — whoever they are — I simply would not be here today and do not enjoy the luxury of giving up the fight.

The ancestors endured chains, the whip and humiliations on a daily basis. For that I thank them and praise their spirit of resistance. I assure them that their spirit of survival and resistance remains in many of us today.