Sat. Mar 25: International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery & the TransAtlantic Slave Trade

“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” ~ Maya Angelou

The Slave Ship Brooke's is probably the most recognizable image related to the slave trade and its abolition. Produced in England in 1788 as an eyewitness account, this graphic is so ubiquitous that few other images of slave ships are used or even considered. But this graphic depicts 487 enslaved Africans when in actuality, there were voyages with this ship with MUCH more: 638, 744, 609. This horrific depiction actually UNDER displays the number of enslaved people aboard!
Other facts:

• Estimated 1.8m Africans died at sea in the "Middle Passage" - mortality rate was about 15%

• About 40,000 voyages carried +12.5m captive Africans from early 1500s to late 1800s

• Vast majority of those enslaved from Africa were brought to Spanish Central America, and Brazil - less than 4% of total came to North America. 

To see an AMAZING animated display of the size & number of slave ships crossing the ocean. 
Equal Justice Initiative's HUGELY informative report on the TransAtlantic Slave Trade