7th grade The Atlantic slave trade: how it worked and what it did to millions of people worksheet

The Atlantic slave trade: how it worked and what it did to millions of people

Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Voices, resistance and the end (cards A to D; quotations are exact, other text is in our words). Card A, Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative (London, 1789), volume I, chapter 2. Equiano wrote that he was kidnapped as a child in West Africa: "One day, when all our people were gone out to their works as usual, and only I and my dear sister were left to mind the house, two men and a woman got over our walls, and in a moment seized us both, and, without giving us time to cry out, or make resistance, they stopped our mouths, and ran off with us into the nearest wood." Some historians question where Equiano was born, because two records from his life name South Carolina; others accept his own account, and the question is still debated. Card B, the same book, volume II, chapter 7, after Equiano bought his freedom: "…before night, I who had been a slave in the morning, trembling at the will of another, was become my own master, and completely free. I thought this was the happiest day I had ever experienced…" Card C, a timeline from museum, archive and State Department pages. 1791 to 1804: the Haitian Revolution, a revolt of enslaved people, creates the second independent country in the Americas. 1807: Britain's Parliament ends its slave trade, though about a quarter of all the people enslaved were carried across the Atlantic after this date. January 1, 1808: the United States bans bringing in enslaved people, but buying and selling inside the country goes on. 1833 to 1838: slavery ends in the British colonies, freeing 800,000 people in the Caribbean. Brazil ended slavery in 1888, the last country in the Western world to do so. Card D, a note on resistance: it took many forms, including keeping traditions alive, escaping, plotting uprisings, and revolts on some ships, after which some voyages were turned aside.

2. 1.

   Card A is Equiano's own words, published in London in 1789. What kind of source is it, Ren asks?

   • A later historian's summary, written after the trade had ended in Britain
   • A first-hand account of his life, written years later to persuade readers
   • An unreliable story, since a source written years later has nothing to teach us
   • A merchant's ledger, kept during the voyage to count profit
3. 2.

   Card A says some historians question where Equiano was born. How should Tala treat the claim of a kidnapping in West Africa?

   • As false, because historians who debate one detail must be wrong about the whole book
   • As proven, because a first-hand account cannot be questioned
   • As what Equiano wrote about himself, with other evidence needed before each detail is settled
   • As settled by the two records naming South Carolina, so that Equiano's own account is set aside
4. 3.

   How does card B change the picture of the trade that a merchant's ledger gives, Zee asks?

   • It shows the ledger was wrong about prices
   • It gives the view of a person who was enslaved, which ledgers of profit leave out
   • It shows how many people were carried across the Atlantic each year
   • It replaces the ledger, because one person's view is a full account of the whole trade
5. 4.

   Card C lists the Haitian Revolution. What does it suggest about how slavery ended, Ari asks?

   • Their revolt ended slavery across the whole of the Americas at once
   • Their revolt caused Britain's 1807 law, so lawmakers had no other reasons for it
   • Enslaved people accepted slavery until laws were passed to end it for them in Britain
   • Enslaved people's own revolt created a new country, not just lawmakers' laws
6. 5.

   Card C says Britain ended its slave trade in 1807 and that slavery ended in its colonies in 1833 to 1838. How many years after the trade ended did slavery end, Bo asks?

   • Between 44 and 49 years, counted from the book of 1789 and not from the law of 1807
   • Between 26 and 31 years, since 1833 minus 1807 is 26 and 1838 minus 1807 is 31
   • Exactly 26 years, since slavery ended in 1833 for people in the British colonies
   • Between 260 and 310 years, since 1833 minus 1807 is 260 and so on
7. 6.

   Which pair of cards best supports the claim that enslaved people resisted in more than one way, Jun asks?

   • Cards A and B, because both describe Equiano making a plan to resist
   • Cards A and C, because both give dates in the 1700s and name a revolt
   • Cards C and D, one naming an uprising and one listing escape, traditions and revolts on ships
   • No pair, because resistance can be shown by a record from a ship alone
8. 7.

   Why does the place and date of card A, London in 1789, matter for its purpose, Kira asks?

   • He published to explain the Haitian Revolution to British readers in London
   • He published after the trade had ended, to record a finished chapter
   • He published for British readers while the trade was still legal
   • He published just for merchants, to show them how to run voyages for profit
9. 8.

   Card B says Equiano was "trembling at the will of another" before he was free. What does the wording show, Luz asks?

   • He describes how he planned the Haitian Revolution
   • He describes slavery as an ordinary job from which he was given a free day each week
   • He describes slavery as living at another's will, and freedom as being his own master
   • He describes freedom as a reward for obeying his master
10. 9.

    Using card C, which statement about change over time is best supported, Noah asks?

    • Lawmakers alone changed things, since card C lists just laws
    • Slavery ended first in British colonies, and the laws against the trade came decades later in Britain and the United States
    • Laws against the trade came first, in 1807 and 1808, and slavery ended in British colonies later
    • Laws against the trade stopped shipments of people after 1808
11. 10.

    Which new source would best help Pia test whether people resisted during the Middle Passage?

    • A map of the Atlantic currents and winds that the ships used to cross
    • A list of plantation crops grown in the Caribbean in later years
    • Records of voyages turned aside after revolts, read with the ship's log
    • A museum page that repeats card D's list of resistance in new words