What were slaves fed on the journey from Africa to America/West Indies?
I had always heard that they were generally fed yams. Apparently it varied, but generally some attempt WAS made to (barely) feed the slaves, to prevent them dying in transit. The slavers would acquire local African foods from the port before departing. Here’s a site with LOTS of detail on what (and how much) slaves were fed onboard: http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/… “Slave ship cargoes brought crops directly from Africa… for enslaved Africans to consume during their passage to the New World. These crops included… rice, okra, tania, black-eyed peas, cassava, yams, kidney beans and lima beans. Other crops brought from Africa included peanuts, millet, sorghum, guinea melon, liquorice, watermelon, and sesame.” “One enslaved African told a free black in Charleston about the food eaten on the slave ship that brought him to America: ‘We had nothing to eat but yams, which were thrown amongst us a
