Four hundred years ago, the first slave ship arrived on the North American coast, starting a transatlantic trade chapter that involved the capture and transportation of 12.5 million people from Africa to be sold in American ports. Imported as a commodity, they are considered as goods, in the same way as objects or animals.

In the United States, their story begins with the Portuguese ship, the "San Juan Bautista", which transported 350 people captured in present-day Angola in 1619 to be sold as slaves.


-Welcome Mr. NorthUp;

-Hello

-You are our guest today to testify to years of slavery from which you have suffered, can you tell us your story?

-My name is Jackson NorthUp, I was born in a cotton field in 1842 and used to be the property of Wilson Jenkins, my master who had plantations located in Mississippi.
It wasn't my father who chose that name, but my master.
I never knew my parents' names, I always called them "Mom and Dad" before being sold at the age of twelve to another slave master.

-Can you describe a typical work day in the fields?

-The living conditions were very harsh, we worked between twelve and fifteen hours a day, which was very tedious since we didn't have any breaks to eat, or rest. Our shelters were just like huts where we were sleeping together inside, it was dirty and muddy. I had a wooden plank as a bed, my coat was used as a pillow and any clothing was used as a blanket. During the day, patrollers kept an eye on us and did not hesitate to whip us if we didn't work quickly enough.

The import of slaves was outlawed in 1808, but slavery remains a fact that soon divides the country. In 1840, the North, which was very industrialised, was open to the European ideas and was in favour of the abolition of slavery.

On the other hand, the South, where huge cotton and tobacco plantations are spread, wants to continue exploiting millions of slaves and thereby sustain its lucrative economy....
It is in this turbulent context that a man of great importance in American history appears: Abraham Lincoln. Supporting the cause of abolitionists, he is perceived as a threat by those who support slavery.

-You were eighteen when Lincoln was elected on November 6, 1860, President of the United States, what can you tell us about those years?

-I remember that period, when the master sent me downtown to pick up supplies, I heard shopkeepers discussing Lincoln's election that appeared in the newspaper. This was a threat to their plantation; the slaves were invited to flee the plantations in the south to the north where they would be free.

-Have you ever imagined escaping?

-It simply wasn't possible, other friends tried to free themselves but it cost them their lives.
However, we could see a certain tension in the master, who now had difficulty exercising his authority with more and more frequent revolts

-Slavery ended four years later in 1865 with the victory of the abolitionists, officially ending slavery and 246 years of slavery.
-So this year is the year you were freed?.

Indeed, the local authorities came to the plantation to warn our master that he had to restore our freedom, and that we were no longer his property! Mad with rage, he struck some of these slaves several times before being sidelined, that's when I started to live.