#nsla

[saltedmeow]

@mcsr-events december gift exchange for crow @crowinthecorner !! happy holidays :)

[crowinthecorner]

i am NOT late the run is definitely still going trust me

[cuzbruce]

#Repost @thedayafter2016 with @get_repost ・・・ The slave ship Zong departed the coast of Africa Sept. 6, 1781 with 470 slaves. Human chattel was a very valuable commodity and many captains took on more slaves than their ships could accommodate to maximize profits. The Zong’s captain overloaded his ship and many began to die from disease and malnutrition. The Zong then sailed to an area in the Atlantic known as “the Doldrums” because of periods of little or no wind. The ship sat stranded and 7 crew members and more slaves died. The captain decided to throw the “cargo” to save the ship and claim a loss on their insurance. Over the next week they threw 132 slaves who were sick overboard. Ten slaves threw themselves overboard in what was described as an “Act of Defiance.” When the ship arrived in Jamaica, the ship’s owner filed a claim for his loss, arguing that the Zong did not have enough water to sustain both crew and the “commodities”. The insurance underwriter disputed the claim citing that the Zong had 420 gallons of water when she was inventoried. The court found in favor of the owners. The case provoked a great deal of interest and the attention of Great Britain's abolitionists. Abolitionist Granville Sharp used the case to increase public awareness and further the anti-slavery cause. It was he who first used the word massacre. A second trial ruled in favor of the insurers. There was also an attempt to bring charges against the captain and his crew, but the Solicitor General refused stating “What is this claim that human people have been thrown overboard? This is a case of chattels or goods. Blacks are goods and property; it is madness to accuse these well-serving honorable men of murder. The case is the same as if wood had been thrown overboard.” The event inspired the actions of William Wilberforce who led the successful campaign to have Parliament abolish slavery throughout the British Empire in 1833. There is now an underwater memorial off the coast of Grenada in the West Indies to all the slaves drowned during the notorious Middle Passage. #zongmassacre #chattelslavery #middlepassage #Grenada #notsolongago #nsla