These histories show that the majority of slaves transported along any given route were often male (adults and non-adults). However, the numerical preponderance of African males (men and boys) in the trade should not take precedence or obscure the devastating consequences the Middle Passage had on pregnant women, children, the elderly, and those with limited mobility. Offering readers a micro-historical lens, Mustakeem decenters the black male body, offering us a history of the Middle Passage where enslavers refused to be lenient on either gender or forgive disability. As a result, Africans arriving in the Americas underwent an experience whose damage would continue to be felt in the physical, mental, nutritional, and gynecological wellness of Afro-Atlantic communities on the other side of the Atlantic.
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