Pair of Middle Passage wrought iron ankle shackles

ISM.2015.6

Information

Wrought iron ankle shackles are of the type used on board of slaver ships during so called ‘Middle Passage’. Enslaved Africans were forced to endure this terrifying and brutal journey across the Atlantic from the West Coast of Africa to the Americas. Such shackles were used to restrain and imprison Africans below decks in the ship’s hold.