Also known as: saltwater slavery, Smallwood saltwater slavery
Last updated: April 23, 2026
Smallwood's main intervention is that the Middle Passage should not be isolated from what came before and after it. The coast, the ship, and the American market formed one process. That process created a class of "saltwater slaves" whose lives remained shaped by oceanic displacement even after arrival.
Saltwater Slavery
Social death describes the alienation of enslaved people, particularly those brought directly from Africa.
Saltwater Slavery
Atlantic Slave Trade
Fictive Kinship
Saltwater Slavery
Middle Passage
Saltwater Slavery
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"Saltwater Slavery." Rasin.ai, 2026. https://rasin.ai/connections/concepts/saltwater-slavery. Accessed 2026-05-05.