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The Middle Passage: White Ships/ Black Cargo
Alex Haley's Roots awakened many Americans to the cruelty of slavery. The Middle Passage focuses attention on the torturous journey which brought slaves from Africa to the Americas, allowing readers to bear witness to the sufferings of an entire people.
80 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
About the author
Tom Feelings
27 books5 followersTom was a skilled cartoonist, illustrator, teacher, and activist for the African-American experience. For a time, he served in the Graphic Arts division of the U.S. Air Force. He created the cartoon Tommy Traveler in the World of Black History in 1958, received a Caldecott Honor in 1972, and two Coretta Scott King Awards in 1979 and 1994.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
March 18, 2011
"If the Atlantic were to dry up, it would reveal a scattered pathway of human bones, African bones marking the various routes of the Middle Passage." In the introduction of this heart wrenching book written by Tom Feelings, Dr. John Henrik Clarke tries to describe the amount of African people whom lost their lives during the African Trade Slave led by many European countries.
The path to the Americas was a dangerous journey for many, but not as sickening as it was for African men, women, and children. Through Tom Feeling's wordless illustrations crafted from pen, ink, and tempera it tells the story of African people being ripped from the sunny shores of their homeland and sent to rot on the dark shores of North and South America.
Delicately drawn and constructed using white, black, and gray tones, the reader feels the pain, anger, and tragedy that the people had to endure. This is a picture book that is appropriate for older audiences, possibly beginning at a high school level. Before jumping right into the illustrations, there should be research done to build knowledge about the journey that the people had to go through. This is essential so older children can truly understand the cruelness and wrong doing that happened upon the African people.
This is the most powerful Multi-cultural picture books I have read in a long time.
The path to the Americas was a dangerous journey for many, but not as sickening as it was for African men, women, and children. Through Tom Feeling's wordless illustrations crafted from pen, ink, and tempera it tells the story of African people being ripped from the sunny shores of their homeland and sent to rot on the dark shores of North and South America.
Delicately drawn and constructed using white, black, and gray tones, the reader feels the pain, anger, and tragedy that the people had to endure. This is a picture book that is appropriate for older audiences, possibly beginning at a high school level. Before jumping right into the illustrations, there should be research done to build knowledge about the journey that the people had to go through. This is essential so older children can truly understand the cruelness and wrong doing that happened upon the African people.
This is the most powerful Multi-cultural picture books I have read in a long time.
April 1, 2013
My daughter's history text recommended The Middle Passage but suggested parents preview it. I'm glad I did. It's a beautiful and heart-wrenching book, but my 7.5-year-old is not ready for the rawness and brutality depicted here, and I'm not ready for her to see it. I want her to know the story, but not so much so soon.
According to the text that precedes the illustrations, this book took the author/illustrator 20 years to complete. I can see why. Each picture holds so much emotion and so much history.
In his preface, Feelings explains why he chose to tell the story only in illustrations. One reason he gives is the limitations and inherent bias in the English language. "It is a language so infused with direct and indirect racism that it would be difficult, if not impossible, using this language in my book, to project anything black as positive."
I think he went the right path telling the story with pictures rather than words. It's a story I've heard over and over again, but it is difficult to conceptualize the dehumanization that happens to both the enslaved and those enslaving them when I'm just reading the words.
That said, John Henrik Clarke's introduction added a dimension to the book that I would have missed had I only looked at the illustrations. In particular, I was struck by his description of the cultural differences between the people of West Africa and the Europeans. "The European temperament," he writes, "was shaped by a thousand-year-old feudal system, which was a form of slavery...Europe was just emerging from the Middle Ages, a time when poverty and disease were rampant, 'an age haunted by death and damnation.' The Africans had never dealt with such a fiercely competitive people, a people set on asserting its dominance at any cost."
This book gives people in the United States another opportunity to look into our country's dark history. By facing this past rather than avoiding it, hopefully we can help shape a future that allows each of us to be our best selves rather than being trapped in a tradition of dominance and subordination.
According to the text that precedes the illustrations, this book took the author/illustrator 20 years to complete. I can see why. Each picture holds so much emotion and so much history.
In his preface, Feelings explains why he chose to tell the story only in illustrations. One reason he gives is the limitations and inherent bias in the English language. "It is a language so infused with direct and indirect racism that it would be difficult, if not impossible, using this language in my book, to project anything black as positive."
I think he went the right path telling the story with pictures rather than words. It's a story I've heard over and over again, but it is difficult to conceptualize the dehumanization that happens to both the enslaved and those enslaving them when I'm just reading the words.
That said, John Henrik Clarke's introduction added a dimension to the book that I would have missed had I only looked at the illustrations. In particular, I was struck by his description of the cultural differences between the people of West Africa and the Europeans. "The European temperament," he writes, "was shaped by a thousand-year-old feudal system, which was a form of slavery...Europe was just emerging from the Middle Ages, a time when poverty and disease were rampant, 'an age haunted by death and damnation.' The Africans had never dealt with such a fiercely competitive people, a people set on asserting its dominance at any cost."
This book gives people in the United States another opportunity to look into our country's dark history. By facing this past rather than avoiding it, hopefully we can help shape a future that allows each of us to be our best selves rather than being trapped in a tradition of dominance and subordination.
October 29, 2020
The most beautiful and painful picture book about European/American enslavement that we’ve ever read.
March 3, 2008
This book, in which there are no words, save the author's powerful foreward about his journey to slavery and back to create this novel, is set of black and white drawings of the capture and transport of black Africans to the Americas for use as slaves. This book is, by far, not a picture book in the sense that you share it with small children. Rather, it utilizes pictures to convey the horror and dehumanizing nature of slavery. I think that this book would be especially good to incorporate in middle school or high school classrooms to really put slavery in perspective. Too often, we study events in history, and are intellectually aware of their occurrence, but lack a true understanding and human emotional connection to the events. Because of this, we relegate appalling historical events to the past, fail to tie them to present social injustices, and cease to be vigilant about our actions and the actions of present society.
July 27, 2020
This book was originally published in 1995. My copy came out in 2017, fourteen years after Tom Feelings’ death. This edition includes his original introduction, as well as two others, and an important historical note. There is plenty of reading to be done before you encounter the illustrations, which are without text. Tom Feelings explained his choice for wordless pictures in his powerful introduction. His depiction through art of this brutal piece of black history is one that needs to keep resurfacing. Access this book however you are able and let it penetrate your heart. As allies, we should have a willingness to look at what our ancestors participated in. We exchange only a small level of comfort for the sake of comprehending this history and I assure you that this is barely a token offered when the magnitude of it all is grasped. The Middle Passage is packed with horrifically painful details that we all need to understand.
April 22, 2021
Feelings writes, "The pain of the present sometimes seems overwhelming, but the reasons for it are rooted in the past."
This book is incredibly hard to read. It is so filled with pain and suffering. Yet there is also defiance and resilience and anger; there are pictures of sorrow but also of the African "cargo" resisting their enslavers. The intro by Clarke is short--anyone can read this, though it would probably be wise to have an adult assist a younger reader. There are no words, but this is not a picture book to just let kids peruse on their own.
(Get it? There are no words to describe the Middle Passage.)
Everything by Tom Feelings is amazing.
This book is incredibly hard to read. It is so filled with pain and suffering. Yet there is also defiance and resilience and anger; there are pictures of sorrow but also of the African "cargo" resisting their enslavers. The intro by Clarke is short--anyone can read this, though it would probably be wise to have an adult assist a younger reader. There are no words, but this is not a picture book to just let kids peruse on their own.
(Get it? There are no words to describe the Middle Passage.)
Everything by Tom Feelings is amazing.
Read
April 26, 2012Carrie Ackerson
Picture Book
This picture book is not for young children. It depicts horror and cruelty. The worst part is that the horror really did happen, and the images are if anything toned down. Artist Tom Feelings spent twenty years graphically depicting the “Middle Passage” or slave cargo experience in stark monochrome: Africans captured and enslaved and transported in slave-ships across the Atlantic Ocean. We see the bewildered captives tormented, overcrowded, dying, escaping by jumping to certain death overboard. We see activity suggestive of rape, the Africans drawn clearly as their captors are ghostly, surreal images in shades of muted white and gray. We see despair, all depicted without a single word of text. This powerful book should be included in every older Young Adult school curriculum. Don’t “read” it for entertainment…experience it for understanding.
Picture Book
This picture book is not for young children. It depicts horror and cruelty. The worst part is that the horror really did happen, and the images are if anything toned down. Artist Tom Feelings spent twenty years graphically depicting the “Middle Passage” or slave cargo experience in stark monochrome: Africans captured and enslaved and transported in slave-ships across the Atlantic Ocean. We see the bewildered captives tormented, overcrowded, dying, escaping by jumping to certain death overboard. We see activity suggestive of rape, the Africans drawn clearly as their captors are ghostly, surreal images in shades of muted white and gray. We see despair, all depicted without a single word of text. This powerful book should be included in every older Young Adult school curriculum. Don’t “read” it for entertainment…experience it for understanding.
July 7, 2011
Indescribable. Raw. Emotional.
(I strongly believe the reason I have zero interest in cruises stems from this historical event.)
(I strongly believe the reason I have zero interest in cruises stems from this historical event.)
October 20, 2012
Powerful, disturbing, and necessary.
February 27, 2015
2015 LBC bingo: book without any words
This book didn't need any words; it's power was enhanced by the lack. Shocking, powerful and amazing. High recommend for anyone interested in history.
This book didn't need any words; it's power was enhanced by the lack. Shocking, powerful and amazing. High recommend for anyone interested in history.
September 10, 2022
I'll be honest this book is tough. It is all done in black and white illustrations, there is no text. It is haunting. These images are powerful. I have not had a picture book leave me feeling this way I think ever. It tells the story of the middle passage, which was the route of the slave trading ships during the height of slavery. We see images of white men coming into Africa and taking men, women and children in chains onto giant ships. Where they are forced into the bottom hold in just brutal conditions. These images show brutal beating and killings. On one page we see an image of the dead men being thrown overboard... it's a tough one.
I struggle with this book. I know this is information that is so important, and such a haunting part of American history, but these images really stuck with me. I do not know if I can look at them again. Seeing it once was really difficult and I needed to take a minute after I finished to just sit with it. The images themselves are beautifully done, and this book for sure deserved the recognition it has received and probably more, but I do not know if it is one I would just let a child pick up and go through. You really have to know what you are looking at, and I almost wish I had a warning so I could have been prepared. My advice for this book would be to not skip the introduction, so you are fully prepared for the depth and intensity of the images.
I struggle with this book. I know this is information that is so important, and such a haunting part of American history, but these images really stuck with me. I do not know if I can look at them again. Seeing it once was really difficult and I needed to take a minute after I finished to just sit with it. The images themselves are beautifully done, and this book for sure deserved the recognition it has received and probably more, but I do not know if it is one I would just let a child pick up and go through. You really have to know what you are looking at, and I almost wish I had a warning so I could have been prepared. My advice for this book would be to not skip the introduction, so you are fully prepared for the depth and intensity of the images.
January 4, 2018
The velvety images and flowing compositions of each page, quite literally, took my breath away. But for all the softness and delicacy of his style, Tom Feelings uses his considerable talents to depict the brutality and horror of the slave trade. This juxtaposition of style and content was startling; with each turn of the page I received a new jolt of emotion. The violence, the brutality, the fear and hopelessness that Feelings captured has clung to me since I've closed the book. I can't loosen the images of inhumanity and terror that he managed to so delicately portray. Beautiful and heartbreaking. Stunning and terrible. I don't think I've seen a book quite like this one.
*The content of this book is graphic and upsetting. There are many depictions of violence, death, and rape. The publisher's age recommendation is 12 and up. But I would consider the sensitivity of each child on a case by case basis to determine if this would be an appropriate recommendation.*
*The content of this book is graphic and upsetting. There are many depictions of violence, death, and rape. The publisher's age recommendation is 12 and up. But I would consider the sensitivity of each child on a case by case basis to determine if this would be an appropriate recommendation.*
February 2, 2018
The Middle Passage: White Ships | Black Cargo is unlike any picture book I’ve ever encountered. There are stories that tell the horrors of slavery after they had reached their destination, but I can’t think of any others that tell the story of the journey. There are a few pages of commentary from the author, and an introduction—but the story itself is told solely with illustrations, and honestly, I can’t see that words would have added anything to the story. Each illustration conveys the horror, pain, and struggle that African men and women experienced during the Middle Passage. This book is one that can be used alongside various history lessons to help gain a deeper understanding of what this experience was actually like. It can also be used to help readers think critically about certain aspects of history they were taught that sugar coated or glossed over the horrors of the slave trade.
September 13, 2022
Tom Feelings I did such an amazing job of presenting the torturous, historical history of black slaves and their beginnings in America in a real, profound, and thought-provoking way. I will admit, that this book was heavy and hard on the heart, but I believe that it has a deserved place in libraries all across America in order for one to really take in the factual circumstances of the brutality, captivity, and indignities that a large number of Africans suffered through on this horrific journey. I found it painful to inspect the details of the images contained in the wordless book, but the sheer enormity of the book size and double-page spreads in black, white, and grey pencil shading needed no words to understand what this author intends for the reader to understand. How brilliantly done! I think this book is an important piece of literature for older children who are learning about the history of America and the introduction of the slave trade and black history in this country.
March 29, 2021
In this book on the Middle Passage by Tom Feelings he describes the historic ordeal through photography. The Middle Passage was the stage of the triangular trade in which millions of Africans were forcibly transported to the New World as part of the Atlantic Slave Trade. These ships were referred to as white ships/Black Cargo. Some people even referred to the Middle Passage as the Black Holocaust. There is no text that accompanies his photographs because Feelings wants each reader to use his or her own imagination. Feelings I believed wanted the reader to come up with his or her own story as to what happen during this time. I must warn you that most of these photos are graphic and you can see the torture that the slaves were put through when Africans were forced to leave their native home.
December 13, 2017
I have a hard time classifying this as a picture book, instead I would liken it to a wordless graphic novel because the content is deep and heavy and heartbreakingly realistic and beautiful and TRAGIC. I noted that this was published in 1995, but it has been re-released with some new introductions it seems. Either way, I had never been exposed to this and you could spend hours dissecting the choices Feelings makes to illustrate the way he did. Feelings elicits all of the feelings one must have to fully understand the scope and gravity of the Middle Passage from the reasons it existed (and for so long), to the pain and torture African men, women, and children endured.
May 22, 2021
Caught my attention real fast in the juvenile section tho the art inside isn't really for children imo. Also, I'm kinda disappointed because a lot had happened during the Middle Passage and he could've done a lot with this book. And I noticed a lot of repetition between different art images. For example, the woman's face in front and behind there's a sun, the same art from a slightly different pov were shown more than a couple of times. I could go on and on about redundancy but anyways.
The book is indeed no doubt powerful and amazing and does a good job relaying the message.
The book is indeed no doubt powerful and amazing and does a good job relaying the message.
April 30, 2020
This story is told entirely with wordless art.
The book, however, starts with about 12 pages of text-heavy script. The author's intro (it was such a difficult subject, it took a lifetime for him to start, then another 20 years on top of that to complete), his son's thoughts, and an historical context from a professor.
The art... Wow. It is so disturbing and captivating. No words needed to recognize the pain and anguish within.
The book, however, starts with about 12 pages of text-heavy script. The author's intro (it was such a difficult subject, it took a lifetime for him to start, then another 20 years on top of that to complete), his son's thoughts, and an historical context from a professor.
The art... Wow. It is so disturbing and captivating. No words needed to recognize the pain and anguish within.
December 17, 2021
TW: Slavery / Torture / Murder / Rape
It would be wrong to review this too far.
The title ‘White Ships | Black Cargo’ is enough.
Wordless - yet every image speaks more than 1000 words.
Raw. Loud. Monochromatic.
It is impossible to follow this book and not feel every page. Yet, let me be clear - I will not even pretend to comprehend the atrocities recorded in this book.
It is tragically magnificent.
It would be wrong to review this too far.
The title ‘White Ships | Black Cargo’ is enough.
Wordless - yet every image speaks more than 1000 words.
Raw. Loud. Monochromatic.
It is impossible to follow this book and not feel every page. Yet, let me be clear - I will not even pretend to comprehend the atrocities recorded in this book.
It is tragically magnificent.
May 3, 2018
This wordless picture book depicts scenes from the most shameful time in human history, when millions of Africans were violently kidnapped from their homes and transported overseas into lives of slavery; that is if they survived the deplorable conditions in which they were imprisoned. The artwork truly captures the awfulness of it all.
January 16, 2021
Worldless and more powerful because of that. I picked this up thinking I might be able to use it with my students. I could, but there are some images of rape and nudity that would not be appropriate for the age level I teach. Still, this will probably be a book that I will own for use where and when I can.
March 12, 2023
I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said. It's the most powerful book on slavery I have seen. (But I haven't read Roots yet.) Everyone should 'read' this. Everyone above say.... 12 years of age. Do read the introductions. Especially the historian one. Don't expect this to be quick or easy.
April 2, 2018
Powerful and raw look at the inhumane travel and treatment by way of the Middle Passage for people who were enslaved.
March 31, 2019
I’ve lost count of how many people I’ve told to read this over the years. Powerful and beautiful and heartbreaking.
July 24, 2019
A very powerful book. The introductions really added an added dimension to the story. Very heartbreaking.
December 1, 2019
This is a wordless picture book. It is not for small children. Powerful!
April 5, 2020
really amazing book
February 27, 2021
Without words, a powerful and tragic story. Illustrations are remarkable.
March 31, 2021
Tough to read.
August 22, 2021
The images are captivating, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews