Today we read a book about slaves, and the journey from Africa to America and some of the things that were going on in the salve ships. This story also talks about how the conditions of the ships were and some stories that he author saw on while on the ship. The story starts off when he was just a little boy and him and his sister got taken away by the white men. He was separated from his sister almost right away. He was only 11 years old when all this happened too. He told us how the conditions were very bad. There were way to many people on the ships so they were very crowded. Because the conditions were so bad that many of them got sick and some even died. But because many were getting sick and the space was so tight many others got sick because they were not getting treated. if someone got sick they might let them go on the deck for a little while and get some fresh air. they food was very scarce for the slaves and there were a few that even tried to escape off the slave ships. They would jump over board hoping that they would make it back to shore. When this would happen a few white men would take the smaller ships out and go after them, some would drown and one or 2 might make it back to the boat. When they would get back they would be beaten so bad that they would almost die. They did this to how the other slaves what would happen if they tried to do something like this too. The slaves on these ships were always getting beaten. If they were caught stealing like some in the story were caught stealing food, they were beaten very badly.