Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumShipboard Rebellions and Middle Passage Resistance

Read the excerpt from the 1790 testimony of Dr. Thomas Trotter, a ship surgeon on the slave ship *Brookes*, before the British House of Commons, and answer the question below.

"They had a song which they sung, which was a lamentation for the loss of their country and friends... The general subject was their prospect of returning to their home after death... Many of them refused sustenance, and when we forced them to eat, they would spit it out in our faces, indicating that they preferred death to bondage."

Which of the following historical conclusions is best supported by Dr. Trotter’s testimony regarding the Middle Passage?

  1. Captive Africans utilized both physical and cultural methods, such as hunger strikes and communal singing, to actively assert their agency and reject enslavement during the Middle Passage.Answer
  2. B
    Shipboard resistance was rare and insurrections were virtually non-existent due to the overwhelming physical control maintained by the crew.
  3. C
    Collective resistance on slave ships was prevented by the cultural and linguistic diversity of the captives, making unified actions impossible.
  4. D
    Defiant acts such as refusing food were primarily individual, spontaneous reactions to illness rather than deliberate, organized resistance.

Answer

Captive Africans utilized both physical and cultural methods, such as hunger strikes and communal singing, to actively assert their agency and reject enslavement during the Middle Passage.
The correct answer is supported by the excerpt, which details how captives actively refused sustenance—even under the threat of force—and sang songs expressing a shared belief in returning home after death. These actions represent clear physical and cultural strategies of resistance, illustrating that enslaved Africans maintained agency and actively opposed their enslavement rather than being passive victims.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the primary source stimulus for evidence of active or passive behaviors among the captives.
The text describes captives singing about the afterlife and actively refusing food (sustenance), even spitting it out when forced to eat.
Understanding the specific actions of the captives is necessary to evaluate their level of agency and resistance.
2
Connect the documented behaviors of refusing food and singing to historical concepts of resistance.
Refusing food represents a physical hunger strike, and singing about the afterlife represents cultural preservation and psychological defiance. Both show agency.
Connecting these details to historical concepts allows the identification of the correct historical conclusion.
3
Evaluate the options to find the one that accurately synthesizes these forms of resistance while avoiding common historical misconceptions.
The option stating that captives utilized physical and cultural methods to assert agency and reject enslavement is correct, while the others rely on misconceptions that underestimate agency or overestimate passive victimhood.
This step confirms the correct answer by eliminating distractors that contradict the primary source evidence.

Key Concept

Shipboard Rebellions and Middle Passage Resistance
Estimated Time:1m 30s
Rate this question

Topics

Shipboard Rebellions and Middle Passage Resistance

More questions from this topic