#this will make you cry

★★★★★

The Middle Passage: White Ships | Black Cargo is unlike any picture book I’ve ever encountered. There are stories that tell the horrors of slavery after they had reached their destination, but I can’t think of any others that tell the story of the journey. There are a few pages of commentary from the author, and an introduction—but the story itself is told solely with illustrations, and honestly, I can’t see that words would have added anything to the story. Each illustration conveys the horror, pain, and struggle that African men and women experienced during the Middle Passage. This book is one that can be used alongside various history lessons to help gain a deeper understanding of what this experience was actually like. It can also be used to help readers think critically about certain aspects of history they were taught that sugar coated or glossed over the horrors of the slave trade.