The Middle Passage: White Ships/ Black Cargo [Hardcover]

Tom Feelings (Author), John Henrik Clarke (Introduction)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

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. 64 paintings.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YA?Feelings's art speaks to the soul in this magnificent visual record of the Black Diaspora in the Americas. Clarke provides a concise narrative of the slave trade, and then readers pause at a double-spread image of a man, woman, bird, sun, and land before the pages become horrific. Guns, yokes, chains, whips, knives?one can see anger, grief, sadness, pain, and almost hear the screams coming from the captives' open mouths. The crowded holes, ankle chains, branding, rats, and sharks swarming around the ship as bodies are thrown overboard all build, image by image, to the reality of man's inhumanity to man. White enforcers are depicted more as wisps than as defined persons, while blacks are primarily drawn with sharp definition. The art is rendered in pen-and-ink and tempera on rice paper and printed in tritone (two black inks and one gray, plus a neutral press varnish). The satin feel of the thick, oversized pages; the black endpapers; the gray introductory and end matter; and pure white backgrounds for the journey itself demonstrate the care that went into the book's production. A powerfully rendered reality that all teens deserve the opportunity to experience.?Barbara Hawkins, Oakton High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In his introduction, Feelings, known best for his children's book celebrating African creativity, Soul Looks Back in Wonder (1993), explains why he chose to create this picture book for adults about the Middle Passage, the horrific transatlantic journey that brought enslaved Africans to the land of their imprisonment. Racial violence in the U.S. during the 1960s had filled him with despair, prompting him to move to Ghana to nurture the joy he could still detect deep in his heart. Living in Africa was a soul-saving affirmation of self and creativity for Feelings, but it also forced him to confront the brutal reality of the slave trade. It took Feelings 20 years to complete this wrenching but forthright and, ultimately, cathartic work of art, testimony not only to our capacity for evil, but also to the triumph of the spirit and of beauty. Donna Seaman

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Dial; 1st edition (November 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803718047
• ISBN-13: 978-0803718043
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 13.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #717,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Artistically Truthful, January 30, 2004

By 

Michele Madore (Vancouver, WA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Middle Passage: White Ships/ Black Cargo (Hardcover)

While teaching the 6 traits of writing to middle school students, I was given The Middle Passage to use as an example of a book with strong voice. The book completely awed me with its dark, powerful images. Page after page, the illustrations evoke incredibly strong emotional reactions in the reader despite the absence of words. While the story is certainly worth sharing and keeping alive, the black and white drawings are graphic enough that I decided to save the book for a time when I could provide students with more background information to prepare them for the harsh realities depicted. This is a book that I will keep in my collection because of its artistic power, historical accuracy, and vivid impact.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Silent Testimony, December 4, 2005

By 

Mark Leonida - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Middle Passage: White Ships/ Black Cargo; Limited Edition (Hardcover)

Inaccessible and obscure to many because of its controversial categorization under children's books, Tom Feelings' The Middle Passage: White Ships/Black Cargo relays a story that simply cannot go untold. People of all ages will experience a strong reaction to the vivid, black and white illustrations chronicling the brutal history of America, of race, and of humanity that can never really be fully remembered. I would advise against simply handing the book to a child without being prepared to undergo the painful process of explaining the meaning of the narrative relayed by Feelings. The artist graphically captures many of the different atrocities that occurred: violence, rape, and dehumanizing conditions. The book sparks productive discussion between all people on the slave trade and on the different methods of representing that history.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars dynamic and haunting images, March 3, 2006

By 

Joanne Ellis (Rockaway Park, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Middle Passage: White Ships/ Black Cargo (Hardcover)

The Middle Passage is a phenominal series of paintings depicting the transportation of black slaves across the Atlantic. I use this large format book as a visual aid in my N.Y.C. art classes. It has inspired the type of dialogue we all want to have in our classrooms.