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Explanation of the triangular transatlantic traffic trail 

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Explanation of the triangular transatlantic traffic trail 

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Due to their unsuitability for bulk cargo, most slave ships returned to their homeports in ballast. Wikimedia

5. The myth of the triangle trade routes for slave ships

Over the years, an image has emerged of slave ships engaging in what is known as a triangle trade route. In this telling, ships departed from European ports, such as Bristol in Britain or Brest in France. Laden with goods such as arms, gunpowder, trinkets and beads, cloth, copper, and other items desirable by African rulers, they journeyed to their African factories. There the goods were exchanged for African enslaved people. As quickly as possible they departed for the Americas, bound for the Caribbean due to favoring currents and winds. Arriving in the Caribbean or North America they discharged the slaves and took on cargo bound for Europe. Using the Gulf Stream and the favoring winds, they returned to their homeport, or other European port, completing the triangle with all three legs being lucrative for the owners.

Slave ships did follow such a route, but by the middle of the 18th century, few returned to Europe with large cargoes of the produce of the colonies. Slave ships by then were built to crowd as many people as possible into their decks. They included several decks, all with low overheads. They simply weren’t intended to carry bulk cargo, such as the sugar, rum, molasses, tobacco, and other items shipped by the colonies to Britain and Europe. Frequently they arrived at their colonial destinations out of season for that year’s produce. Most slave ship captains purchased what little cargo they could find, and put the rest of the vessel into ballast. Taking on heavy stones and gravel served to stabilize the vessel sufficiently to return home. There the ship would prepare for another voyage to Africa.

Slaves in Africa were often captured in wars or raids by slavers on neighboring tribes. Wikimedia

6. The process of becoming a slave in the Americas began in Africa

Nearly all of the Africans destined for the transatlantic voyage came from the West Coast or West Central Africa; Senegambia, Upper Guinea, the Windward Coast, the Gold Coast, the Bight of Benin, the Bight of Biafra, West Central Africa, and Southeastern Africa. Over 45 distinct ethnic groups were taken from Africa, the most prominent being the BaKongo and the Mande. For all of them, it began by capture by enemies, or conviction of a crime by tribal elders. Bound or shackled, they were force marched to the port where their captor’s rulers maintained a prison, often a fort, known as a factory. A European representative of the trading company operated there as a factor. His job was to obtain the best terms for the ships arriving with goods with which to purchase the slaves. Captors were held until a ship arrived.

Those not purchased by the Europeans, and later Americans, often remained as slaves of the tribe or nation which captured them. Many were summarily killed. Those purchased were packed into the decks of the ships, shackled and chained. There they remained, in stifling heat until the ship achieved its full complement. With no knowledge of the words they overheard, what they were in, and where they were going, they remained in the ship for at least ten weeks, often longer. In later years of the trade, some enlightened captains brought them on deck, in shifts, in order to dance, still shackled. It was their belief that the exercise extended life, an idea first practiced by Captain James Cook on his crew during his voyages of discovery. Cook believed the exercise beneficial to health, though his crews did not dance wearing shackles.

Slaves were traded to the Europeans and Americans for goods, weapons, trinkets, and other items. Wikimedia

7. The voyage became known as the Middle Passage

In reference to the transatlantic slave trade, the Middle Passage refers to the actual voyage, not a region of the ocean itself. The First Passage was the capture and forced march to the factor where the Africans were held until boarding ship. Usually, the Middle Passage ended with the ship discharging the Africans in a Caribbean port. There other traders purchased slaves for shipment to North American ports such as New Orleans, Charleston, Mobile, and Richmond. For some though the Middle Passage ended at the docks of Charleston, Baltimore, and other American East Coast ports. For the arriving Africans, it made little difference. They had no idea where they were. Often their families were split up in the process. Nearly all were weak from hunger and thirst, and few, if any, understood one word of the language being shouted at them.

One of the worst recorded Middle Passages took place in 1781, aboard the British slave ship Zong. A former Dutch slave ship captured by the British, Zong operated as part of a Liverpool-based syndicate. It assigned a surgeon by training as its captain, a man with little experience in navigation and less in controlling a ship’s crew. The crew consisted of 17 sailors, far too few for the mission on which the vessel departed. Zong arrived in Accra, in modern-day Ghana, in the summer of 1781. There the captain, Luke Collingwood, used his experience as a surgeon to evaluate the physical conditions of the Africans offered for trade. On August 18, 1781, Zong departed Accra on a voyage to complete the Middle Passage for 442 Africans, more than twice the safe number on a vessel of its tonnage.

The main deck of a slave ship at sea circa mid-18th century. Wikimedia

8. The massacre aboard Zong

Zong stopped at Sao Tome Island to replenish its drinking water, from whence it departed for Jamaica on September 6. It had a slow passage. During the voyage, Captain Collingwood became severely ill. Several of the crew, as well as more than 60 Africans died before the ship sighted Jamaica on November 27. When it did, the crew misidentified the island, believing it to be Hispaniola. They continued on their voyage until, over three hundred miles from Jamaica, realizing their mistake. By then the ship was critically low on drinking water, without enough to make Jamaica. Maritime insurance law allowed a captain to jettison a portion of his cargo in order to protect the remainder, claiming insurance compensation on the jettisoned cargo. Zong’s cargo was insured by its owners. On November 29 the ship’s crew unanimously agreed to have some of the Africans thrown overboard.

About 54 women and children were thrown into the sea that night. Two days later 42 men were callously tossed into the sea, and an additional 36 followed as the ship worked back towards Jamaica. By the time the ship arrived there, 142 Africans had been “jettisoned” as cargo. Zong finally arrived in Jamaica on December 22, with 208 Africans remaining aboard. Collingwood died of his illness two days later. The ship’s owners filed an insurance claim when word reached Britain. Eventually, after two trials and numerous legal hearings, the claim was denied. It seems that on the day of the 42 males being thrown overboard, heavy rains had allowed the filling of six water casks, enough for ten days. The courts ruled it had been unnecessary to kill the Africans, but not illegal. Nobody was ever punished for the murder of the Africans.

The Jamaican Royal Gazette May 19, 1781, offers slaves for lease or sale, as well as rewards for runaways. Wikimedia

9. The seasoning period differed among the colonies

Some, but by no means all, Africans transported to the colonies underwent a period euphemistically called seasoning. Seasoning prepared the enslaved people for their life and work in the colonies. It included discipline, often severe punishment, and exposure to their jobs. In some cases, particularly in the American South, seasoning was skipped with the slaves sent directly to the fields, where they received instructions in the form of brutal manual labor. In others, including Jamaica, seasoning was an organized and structured time period. Slave owners in Jamaica learned that seasoned Africans survived the rigors of the cane fields and refining plants better than those who had not been acclimated. Many resisted seasoning, and suffered for it. Whippings, canings, imprisonment, and other even more harsh punishments awaited them. Their owners considered them like horses, requiring breaking to the plow.

In Jamaica and other British colonies, seasoning included learning the English language, taught by other Africans who had done so on their own. The requirement to offer blind obedience to the will of the master was part of the indoctrination. For many, that aspect of seasoning began during the Middle Passage, when they were subjected to beatings from sailors for failing to follow instructions. Captains and traders quickly learned that an African who appeared docile and healthy attracted a far better price than those who appeared surly and disobedient. For that reason, many of the beatings on ship were severe enough to kill the rebellious slave, in order to make an impression on the others. Yet throughout the Americas, resistance by Africans to their enslaved status continued for hundreds of years.

This woodcut of Africans being thrown into the sea originally appeared in the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator in 1832. Wikimedia

10. Captains and ship builders began to improve conditions aboard ship in the mid-18th century

By 1750, with the transatlantic slave trade nearing its peak, shipbuilders and captains, driven by investors, looked for ways to improve conditions aboard their ships. Their reasons were far from altruistic. By 1750 American slave owners paid between $800 and $1,200 for enslaved Africans at auction (equivalent to $32-$48 thousand today). The shippers and investors of the day did not consider the enslaved Africans as human, nor did they care about their comforts. But they did care about delivering profitable cargo to market. Since most slave ships were relatively small, in order to navigate African rivers, they could not increase the size of the cargoes profitably. Instead, they sought ways to lower the mortality rate among those making the Middle Passage. One way was to improve conditions aboard the ships.

In the second half of the 18th century many British and French slave traders began to reduce the number of Africans carried on their ships. The storage decks, as they were called, were divided into smaller sections, each holding smaller groups of Africans. Open lattices created the sections, allowing improved airflow. Ports through the ship’s sides provided additional fresh air and could be closed in heavy weather by the ship’s crew. As noted earlier, some Captains initiated the requirement for exercise among the captives, though these were often met with defiance. The overriding concern among those involved in the slave trade was profit. None were particularly concerned with the conditions endured by the enslaved Africans beyond ensuring they remained profitable upon arrival in the Americas. Alleviating the conditions of the Middle Passage was part of that goal.

An American slave-trading ship in port at Alexandria, Virginia, circa 1836. Wikimedia

11. The Americans joined in the slave trade while still British colonies

By the mid-18th century, the British Colonies in North America boasted a substantial merchant fleet. New England merchants traded salted fish, manufactured goods, and produce with its southern neighbors and other British colonies, under license from the Mother Country. Another trade triangle developed, from Northeast coast to the Caribbean colonies, the Southern ports, and back home. Before the American Revolution American ships sailed to Britain with goods, returning by way of Africa and carrying slaves to British ports in the Caribbean, as well as in the American South. From there they usually returned home with small cargoes, in ballast. Ships involved in the slave trade required deep cleaning and fumigation before taking on additional cargoes, such as grains, flour, and other produce. New England seaports thrived, as did those in Philadelphia and Charleston.

American slave traders prior to independence operated under more or less the same lines as their British counterparts. After all, they sailed under British flags and considered themselves under British law. Yet many were not above smuggling. Yankee captains smuggled slaves from French and British colonies and from Africa itself, a practice which continued up until the American Civil War. Both the Americans and the British outlawed the importation of African slaves in the early 19th century, but smuggling occurred with such frequency that both nations had antislavery patrols along Africa’s coast for decades. Both also patrolled the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico for slave smugglers who continued to flaunt the law into the age of steam.

Many Africans chose suicide by various means as a form of resistance against their captors. Library of Congress

12. Suicides were common among the captive Africans

Most captured Africans remained relatively peaceful while still in Africa, though many attempted to escape and flee back to their homes. Even while in the factories many retained the hope of regaining their freedom. But once aboard the ships carrying them away from their homeland, they reacted in different ways. Some became despondent, others angrily resistant. Both led to different behaviors during the voyage. Some simply refused to eat, either from despair or as a means of committing suicide. Others resisted by fighting with crewmen, resulting in severe beatings and often death. Still, others resisted by committing suicide, through a variety of means, including jumping over the side. Some ships dispatched a boat to recover the jumper, others simply watched him or her drown. Still, others shot them while they were in the water.

One West African ethnic group, the Kru, made themselves undesirable as African slaves. They were known to kill themselves within hours of capture, if not sooner. Many killed themselves rather than submit to capture. Aboard the slave ships, crews trained in the methods of preventing suicides and force-feeding those who refused their rations. Safety nets were spread along the sides of the ship when Africans were on deck, and some captains simply kept their cargo battened down for the length of the voyage. Still, many Africans succeeded in killing themselves during the voyage, avoiding a life of slavery in a strange land. Enough so that investors and shippers rated captains for, among other things, the number of suicides lost under his command. To them a suicide, by any means, represented a loss of valuable cargo.

Portuguese Brazil imported more African slaves than any other European colony. Wikimedia

13. Most of the Africans were not destined for North America

Despite bearing British flags before the Revolutionary War, and United States’ colors after, the majority of the slave ships bound for the Americas did not deliver their cargo in the United States. The sugar plantations of the Caribbean and Brazil demanded an almost continuous influx of new labor. Conditions at the sugar plantations were brutal, the work equally so. Life expectancy for the newly arrived slaves was short. Throughout the British holdings in the Caribbean, resistance to slavery by the Africans continued. Africans in Jamaica outnumbered the white citizens there by the late 18th century, making fear of rebellion a constant in Jamaica’s plantations and settlements. Harsh conditions to control against insurrection fed further resistance, in a vicious cycle which lasted for decades.

Healthy African slaves drew premiums when delivered to the islands, as well as to Spanish Cuba and Portuguese Brazil. American and British traders, drawn by profits, made voyages to the island plantations a priority. Another reason for their reticence in delivering slaves directly from Africa to the United States was the growing reluctance of Southern planters to purchase them. By the late 1700s, the planters’ society in the South preferred slaves born in British America, fearful of the “negative” influence on their slaves from those arriving directly from Africa. They routinely suppressed African culture and musical instruments, especially drums, and strove to inculcate a more familiar culture among their slaves. Those slaves which did arrive directly from Africa in the American South usually went to work in the fields immediately. Among the slaves, the field hand occupied the lowest rung in their societal ladder.

The harbor of Port au Prince, Saint Domingue, in the mid to late 1700s. Wikimedia

14. French traders participated in the transatlantic slave trade as well

During the latter half of the 18th century, France and Great Britain opposed each other in several wars, all of which affected their possessions in North America and the Caribbean. During the early 19th century, the wars continued as both France and Great Britain sought to establish global empires. Throughout the periods of war and the interim periods of peace, French traders followed the pattern of the British and others. French ships carried goods to Africa, traded them for slaves, and carried the slaves to their island plantations in the Caribbean. They also established a large trading center in New Orleans, North America. The French slave-trading business never became as large as that of the British, but they carried a significant number of Africans to their own possessions, as well as to those of their Spanish allies. Most though, went to Saint Domingue (Haiti).

Of all the European colonies in the New World, Saint Domingue proved the most profitable for its French owners and investors. As with British Jamaica, St. Kitts, and other islands, Saint Domingue’s cash crop was sugar. As more and more sugar was produced its prices in Europe declined. Plantation owners had to produce more to continue to generate profits. More production meant more labor, and more labor meant more slaves. As with the British on Jamaica, conditions in the French sugar colonies for the slaves were abysmal. Life expectancies were short, and slavers found an inexhaustible market for African men and women. After the Portuguese and the British, French slavers transported the third-highest total of Africans into slavery in the Americas, with just over half of the 1.3 million men, women, and children sent to Saint Domingue.

Captives endured forced marches and imprisonment while awaiting purchase and transfer to the Europeans and Americans. Library of Congress

15. The African factories and forts were often as brutal as the ships

Although the Middle Passage was undeniably brutal, so was the First Passage, when captured Africans were taken to the forts and factories erected to support trade. Approximately twelve and a half million Africans boarded the slave ships along the African coast. Thousands did not survive the journey of the Middle Passage. But untold thousands more did not survive the First Passage, the capture, forced march, and imprisonment in the factories and forts. By the mid-18th century, the European powers, through treaty with local leaders, established stone fortresses to hold the factories, as well as protect their trade station from enemy nations. Nearly all of the European Wars of the 18th century saw naval raids by one nation on the African holdings of another. The raids demonstrated the slave trade’s importance to the economies of the European nations.

The trading centers were where captive slaves were led to await transport. The European nations sought to maintain local monopolies in slaves. In this, they were often thwarted by the African leaders, who recognized the advantages to them of establishing bidding wars. Thus, in times of peace, French ships stopped at British factories, and vice versa. At most factories, captives passed over for purchase by the Europeans were usually killed by their African captors. The number of Africans who died during the forced march or at the factories can only be estimated. Some scholars place their numbers above 1 million, others are more conservative. As with the Middle Passage, the length of time which the slaves had to endure to conditions in the factories contributed to their mortality rate. So did resistance and the inevitable punishment.

Most sailors didn’t like slave ships and tried to find other ways to ply their trade at sea. Wikimedia

16. Sailors were reluctant to crew the slave ships

Throughout the period of the transatlantic slave trade, most sailors tried to avoid sailing on slave ships. Their reasons for doing so varied. One was the initial destination, the West Coast of Africa, a region known for its pestilential diseases and other dangers. The Middle Passage presented another danger, one well known to sailors by the beginning of the nineteenth century. About ten percent of all slave ships making the Middle Passage suffered some sort of insurrection during the voyage, often with injuries or death among the ship’s crew. Sailors on slave ships also served as jail guards, and were responsible for administering punishments as ordered by the Captain and other officers. For the most part, common sailors received little pay from the long, arduous voyages. And the mortality rate on slave ships was about the same as it was for the slaves.

On the other hand, Captains and shipowners received lucrative remuneration for their voyages, with some becoming quite wealthy. This led them to use whatever means they could find to recruit crews for their vessels. The threat of debtor’s prison pressured sailors into signing on for a voyage. Often ship officers used guile to lure a sailor into debt, and then offered the unemployed sailor a choice of imprisonment or sailing on a slave ship. Few merchant ships hired sailors with a prison record, though the British Navy had no such qualms. Once a sailor participated in the transatlantic slave trade, he found it difficult to obtain employment out of it. Captains would blacklist them as unreliable, mutinous, and the like. This left them with no choice but to remain in the trade or find another profession.

HMS Brisk capturing the slave ship Emanuela, a former American clipper ship, in 1854. Wikimedia

17. Britain and the United States outlawed the transatlantic slave trade in the early 19th century

In 1807 the United States enacted a law which made the transatlantic slave trade illegal, with the law taking effect on January 1, 1808. Nearly a year earlier, Great Britain outlawed all slave trading within the British Empire. France abolished the trade during its revolution, re-established it in 1802, revoked it again in 1815, and finally abolished it in 1826. Yet slavery continued in the colonies of France and Britain, as well as in the United States. In the latter, a brisk domestic slave trade continued, often by sea between the slave-holding states. The sea was preferred because it was more difficult to escape from a ship than during a forced march on land. Spain and Portugal continued the transatlantic trade, as well as trade between their holdings in the Americas. With so many ships carrying slaves a smuggling trade became inevitable.

Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars Britain and the United States attempted to prevent transatlantic crossings, but they continued. Nearly three million Africans crossed the Atlantic following the abolition of the trade, mainly in ships from Portugal, Spain, and smuggling groups. One famous American smuggler both before and following the outlawing of the trade was Jean Lafitte. Another was James Bowie, later to gain fame at the Alamo. Smugglers did not hesitate to dispose of slaves overboard when encountering authority on the high seas. Following the American and British outlawing of the transatlantic trade, more than 2,000 ships were stopped on the high seas, their African cargoes freed, the ship seized as a prize.

The Kings of Dahomey profited from the slave trade for centuries, and argued for it to continue. Wikimedia

18. As Europe and the United States abolished the trade, some African leaders argued for it to continue

In 1853 Brazil outlawed the transatlantic slave trade, the last slave importing nation to do so. It did so in the face of growing opposition to ending the trade among some rulers in Africa. King Gezo of Dahomey, a nation which exported hundreds of thousands of slaves, called the trade, “â€¦the ruling principle of my people”. Prior to initiating the trade with the Europeans in the early 18th century, Dahomey regularly executed war prisoners in a ritual known as the Annual Customs. The slave trade offered the Kings of Dahomey a profitable means of expanding and strengthening their realms, through the use of the weapons they received in exchange for their slaves. Across Africa, the same changes among the more the 170 kingdoms and tribal organizations altered the face of the continent.

When Britain abolished the trade in 1807 the King of Bonny argued “We think this trade must go on”. He called the practice, “â€¦a trade ordained by God himself”. Some African rulers realized as much as a quarter of a million British pounds per year in the value of goods received, many of which strengthened their rule. Yet they did not realize what their descendants came to learn. The slave trade established footholds for the British, French, Dutch, and Portuguese in Africa. They served the Europeans during the Great Scramble for Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During that period, the European powers carved all of Africa into colonies and protectorates, establishing colonial rule, and destroying the ethnic nations of Africa, and the African empires within.

Trade in the New Orleans market, including the sales of slaves smuggled into the country, continued until 1862. Wikimedia

19. Slaves to the New World outpaced European settlers during the transatlantic trade

During the three hundred years which preceded 1820, when the British and American Navies struggled to suppress the trade, three times as many African slaves reached the Americas as did Europeans. Nor were they the only people taken into slavery. France and Great Britain routinely enslaved captured members of the indigenous tribes taken during wars. These slaves were also transported far from their homes to the valuable sugar plantations. Colonial settlers also took indigenous peoples as slaves, though the practice decreased with the growing availability of African slaves in the 18th century. By far, the majority of slaves which reached the shores of the Americas arrived in Portuguese Brazil, nearly 39%. Part of the reason for this is Brazil was among the first destinations for slaves in the Americas. It was also last to abolish the practice.

Just under 10% of the Africans taken from their homelands arrived in the British North American colonies and the later United States. The reasons for the relatively few were both economic and demographic. During the colonial period, the island sugar plantations were far more valuable to the British than the tobacco, rice, and goods of North America. By the late 18th century, slaves made available by their expanding population were more desirable to slave traders than those arriving from Africa. An adult African-American knew the language, what was expected of him, and what to expect if he failed to deliver or resisted. None of those traits were presented by those who recently arrived from Africa. When the transatlantic slave trade officially ended, the buying and selling of human beings continued unabated in the American South, throughout the Caribbean, and in South America.

The Portuguese, Dutch, British, anf French, all continued to exploit their footholds in Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries. Wikimedia

20. The damage done to Africa is nearly incalculable

The sale of slaves by Africans to Europeans did not present the only markets for the African rulers. Other slave routes existed, overland across the Sahara, for instance. Slaves purchased by traders from the Muslim world used such routes during the forced marches into slavery. Ships touched at Madagascar to collect and transport slaves, including, somewhat ironically, into the Dutch colony near the Cape of Good Hope. About 13,000,000 African men, women, and children departed the factories of West Africa destined for the Americas. About 10,000,000 survived to enter into slavery. Many died shortly after, weakened or sickened by the journey, according to some sources. Numbers vary widely, but there can be little doubt the trade altered the demographics of Africa immeasurably. The trade also set the course for racism across the world.

In modern Jamaica, once the pride of the British sugar industry, 92% of the population are descendants of the transatlantic slave trade. In 1999 the President of Benin (once the Kingdom of Dahomey), issued a formal apology for the role played by Africans during the period of the slave trade. Approximately 3 million Africans were taken into slavery in the regions surrounding Benin, taken by the Kings of Dahomey and sold to Europeans over three centuries. Numerous nations and cities across the world have issued formal apologies for their roles in the slave trade, though apologies seem somewhat insufficient. No one involved in the Atlantic slave trade is alive today. None of its victims can be compensated, nor can any of its perpetrators be punished. Yet its impact continues to be felt today across four continents and scores of island nations.

Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

“African Laborers for a New Empire: Iberia, Slavery, and the Atlantic World”. Article, Low Country Digital History Initiative. Online

“Slave Ships and the Middle Passage”. Article, Encyclopedia Virginia. Online

“Dutch involvement in the transatlantic slave trade and abolition”. Article, African Studies Center Leiden. Online

“What Was the Royal African Company?” Sarah Pruitt, History.com. August 22, 2018. Online

“The Transatlantic Slave Trade and Origins of the African Diaspora in Texas”. Dr. Glenn Chambers, Prairie View A & M University. Online.

“A brief guide to the transatlantic slave trade”. James Walvin, BBC History Extra. June 8, 2020

“The story of the Zong slave ship: A mass murder masquerading as an insurance claim”. Catherine Baksi, The Guardian. January 19, 2021.

“Arrival in the Americas”. Article, Liverpool Museums. Online

“Liverpool’s Slave Trade Legacy”. Claire Shaw, History Today. March 3, 2020. Online

“Freebooters and Smugglers: The Foreign Slave Trade in the United States After 1808”. Robert Gudmestad, Civil War Book Review. Fall, 2008. Online

Dying on their own terms: suicides aboard slave ships”. Aaron Jaffer, Royal Museums Greenwich. August 16, 2017. Online

“The Slave Trade”. Article, National Library of Jamaica. Online

“Slavery and Marronnage in Saint Domingue”. Article, Haitian Marronnage: Voyages and Resistance. Online

“African Participation and Resistance to the Trade”. Article, Lowcountry Digital History Initiative (LDHI). Online

“Royal Navy sailors were appalled by conditions on slave ships, but those they â€˜rescued’ rarely experienced true freedom”. Mary Wills, The Conversation. March 6, 2020. Online

“The Royal Navy and the Battle to End Slavery”. Huw Lewis-Jones, BBC History. February 17, 2011. Online

“In Brazil the wounds of slavery will not heal”. Article, DW.com. Online

“Jamaica’s best kept secret: Black’s owned slaves”. Dudley C. McLean II, Jamaica Observer. December 29, 2019

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The Transatlantic Slave Trade Held the Darkest Secrets

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5. The myth of the triangle trade routes for slave ships Over the years, an image has emerged of slave ships engaging in what is known as a triangle trade route. In this telling, ships departed from European ports, such as Bristol in Britain or Brest in France. Laden with goods such as arms, gunpowd…

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Provide stability but at the expense of increasing drag.

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Dorsal fins

The dorsal fins increase the lateral surface of the body during swimming, and thereby provide stability but at the expense of increasing drag ( see also BUOYANCY, LOCOMOTION, AND MOVEMENT IN FISHES | Maneuverability). Their position in relation to the body during movement is stabilized by an exclusive set of fin motor neurons that are activated in antiphase with the motor neurons controlling the trunk muscles during locomotion. This is required to stabilize the vertical position of the dorsal fins in relation to the body movement.

In some teleost species, the dorsal fin extends along most of the body (e.g., Gymnarchus niloticus), and an undulatory wave can actually be transmitted along the entire dorsal fin, in either a backward or a forward direction, moving the fish in the corresponding direction. Instead of having only one undulatory wave, as in trunk locomotion, there are many small amplitude waves transmitted along the fin.

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012374553800006X

Neural Crest and Vertebrate Morphogenesis

From the neural crest that forms on the neural tube starts a mass migration of neural crest cells. They are at the origin of many cell types and contribute to the formation of a great number of tissues and organs. A group of them from the developing brain and spinal cord go in direction of ectoderm to be differentiated into pigment cells (melanocytes). The rest of them follow an internal path between the neural tube and somites to reach down to the deepest layers and form sensory and sympathetic ganglia (Figure 16.4). The pluripotent neural crest cells differentiate into nerve cells, glial cells, adrenergic cells, pigment cells (leukophores, erythrophores, melanophores, iridiophores, and xanthophores), and chondrocytes.

Once the hindbrain neural crest cells exit the neural tube, they are maintained in segregated streams (Noden and Trainor, 2005). In mice, the hindbrain-derived neural crest cells migrate in three segregated streams adjacent to the even-numbered rhombomeres, compartments of developing hindbrain (Trainor et al., 2002b), but odd and even rhombomeres produce equal number of neural crest cells. The neural crest cell free zones are at the level of rhombomeres 3 and 5 (physically restricted by the invaginating otic placode). Creation of neural crest cell free zones is necessary for maintaining the separation of neural crest cells of different origin and function (Trainor et al., 2002a). The pluripotent neural crest cells contribute to the development and morphology of regions where they migrate not only by transforming themselves into different types of cells, but also by transforming the local cells in appropriate types of cells. So, for example, initiation of chondrogenesis in the pharyngeal endoderm requires direct contact with the neural crest cells (Hall, 1999, p. 137).

Migrating neural crest cells themselves serve as precursors of neuroblasts, from which neurons of the spinal ganglia, nerve cells of the autonomic vegetative system, peripheral ganglia neurons, and ganglia cells that accompany nervous processes differentiate, such as Schwann cells, but also nonneural cells of some of the faster evolving/recurring parts of the vertebrate body, such as the visceral skeleton, which previously was believed to derive from mesoderm.

Of neural crest origin are also cartilaginous elements of the jaws and pharyngeal arches and their sound-transmitting derivatives of the inner ear: incus, malleus, and stapes, as well as the laryngeal and tracheal skeleton, the dental papilla, producing bone-like material to the tooth germs. Of similar neural crest origin are most bones of the face and of the brain case, pigment cells of the skin, feathers, and hairs (Figure 16.5).

Neural crest cells also produce the dorsal fins of fish ( Müller, 1996b) and, in all likelihood, the reemerged dorsal fins in aquatic mammals and ichthyosaurus as well as characteristic crests developing in numerous reptiles, including dinosaurs. The neural crest also provides neurons, mesenchymal cells, cells of the aortic pulmonary conotruncal septa, valves, and major vessels to the developing heart in chick (Hall, 1999). They also determine formation of neurohormonal cells, such as cells of the adrenal medulla and neuroendocrine cells of the digestive tract. The unique role of migrating neural crest cells in different regions of the animal body to form there some of the most typical vertebrate features clearly suggests that:

1.

Neural crest cells possess positional-structural information for the organs or parts, whose formation they are involved in.

2.

Neural crest cells induce differentiation and proliferation of neighboring cells to participate in formation of those parts or tissues.

3.

Evolution of neural crest-induced structures is based on the intrinsic properties of neural crest cells, which are provided with the necessary epigenetic information before leaving the neural tube/CNS.

Now let us illustrate, with some representative examples, the rapid evolutionary changes in vertebrate morphology, in response to changes in conditions of living, in which the neural crest was essentially involved.

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780124158313000161

4.2.4 Potential for Further Study

The evidence suggests that vertical bars, courtship behavior and potentially sword and dorsal fin size associated with the ARTs in X. multilineatus could be experiencing IATC, warranting further more specific testing of the three IATC criteria in this species. Given the two species of northern swordtails that have independently lost the large male size classes and have evolved irreversible sneaker males ( X. continens and X. pygmaeus), the northern swordtail clade presents an excellent system in which to test the mechanistic components of the hypothesis that release from IATC is involved in the association between ARTs and speciation. The evolution of a threshold trait could explain the irreversible use of courtship in the larger size classes of X. multilineatus (threshold too high to ever use sneak-chase) as well as the irreversible use of sneak-chase (threshold too low to ever use courtship) by males in the related species X. pygmaeus and X. continens once the larger male size classes were lost (i.e. genetic assimilation). While intralocus conflict could constrain the evolution of ARTs within a species, it has been argued that its presence could also facilitate rapid evolution once one of the ARTs is lost (Smith, 1962; West-Eberhard, 1986). In addition, further identification of the genetic influences on the traits in this system could increase our understanding of the resolution of conflict. Variation in body size in X. multilineatus is influenced by copies of the mc4r gene on the Y chromosome (Lampert et al., 2010), suggesting one could examine the role of gene duplication in resolving IASC and IATC in this system (Gallach & Betrán, 2011). And finally, a better understanding of which traits are sex-linked could provide insights into how both sexual and tactical conflicts may be driving the evolution of sex chromosomes, which are highly variable within Xiphophorus fishes (Lindholm & Breden, 2002).

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780124071865000070

Utilization of Shark Fins for Soup

One set of shark fins usually consists of two pectoral fins, the first dorsal fin (and in large sharks with two dorsal fins, the second) and the lower lobe of the tail fin. These fins are either dried or salted and dried and used in the Orient and by Chinese communities elsewhere to produce shark fin soup. Small sharks do not yield suitable fins, while some larger species do not produce fins of desirable quality. In general, however, the fins of any shark longer than 1.5 m can be used.

Of the sharks of suitable size, only nurse shark ( Ginglymostoma cirratum) fins and the sawshark ( Pristiphorus mudipiunis) pectoral fins appear to be of no commercial value.

The preferred shark species are the hammerhead, the mako, and the blue, mentioned above, and the tope or soupfin, Galeorhinus galeus. Fins from many of the large and the very large sharks are used, however, including those of the great white shark ( Carcharodon carcharias), the fibrous meat of which, incidentally, is eaten in part of northern Japan. The very large tiger shark ( Galeocerdo cuvieri) is also listed as a source of good-quality shark meat. Several Carcharinus species provide fins for processing in Pakistan.

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B012227055X004739

Anglerfish

Anglerfish also culture bacteria in an esca, a fleshy growth at the end of a modified dorsal fin spine ( Figure 3). The spine is movable and the esca is used as a luminescent lure to attract prey to the fish. The bacteria appear to glow continually. However, flashes or pulses of light have been observed from live fish. The control mechanism is not understood, but blood flow and concomitant oxygen availability to the organ may be involved in regulation. Only female anglerfish are luminescent, which is consistent with their unusual natural history. The much smaller, nonluminescent males permanently attach to the female, who provides nutrients to the male throughout its life. Esca are species specific and range from simple bulbs to elaborate protuberances that may assist in the male locating the correct mate.

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012374553800160X

Satellite Tags on Fishes and Sharks

The first directly attached fin tag was developed by Dr. Francis G. Carey, who designed a fixed position, dorsal fin-mounted, satellite tag that was placed on blue sharks ( Prionace glauca) in 1993 in collaboration with the Sea Mammal Research Unit of the UK. The experiment was highly successful with high-quality locations obtained from sharks surfacing regularly enough to track the sharks along the Gulf Stream. The tag was robust and straddled the dorsal fin. The tags measured pressure (and thus calculated depth), speed, and position on a half dozen sharks in the North Atlantic. The longest track was over 2 months.

Direct telemetry off the dorsal fin of sharks provides an opportunity to enhance the capability of near real time tracking, data collection, and ocean observation. Most recently, this technique was applied to five species of sharks in the Tagging of Pacific Pelagics program (TOPP). Salmon sharks ( Lamna ditropis) are large in body size and surface regularly due to behavioral thermoregulation in cold subpolar seas, making it easy to attach satellite tags. Tracks of over 3 years are routine on this shark, and makos have been followed for over 2 years.

Salmon sharks are apex predators in Alaskan ecosystems, yet little is known about their movements or population dynamics in Alaskan waters. Tagging through TOPP has been critical for documenting the extensive oceanic migrations of salmon sharks and enabled the characterization of their habitat use on oceanic scales ( Figure 4). Tagging has demonstrated that salmon sharks utilize the inshore and nearshore waters of Prince William Sound, Cook Inlet, the Alaskan Peninsula, and southeastern Alaska shelf habitat throughout the year.

The same techniques utilized for studying the salmon shark were rapidly integrated with multiple species within the TOPP program. To date, over 10 species of sharks have been tagged with the single position only transmitting or SPOT tags with extremely successful tracking in species such as shortfin mako sharks ( Isurus oxyrinchus), blue sharks and juvenile white sharks ( Carcharodon carcharias). have also been tracked with limited success (Galapagos sharks Carcharhinus galapagensis, silky sharks C. falciformis and oceanic whitetip sharks C. longimanus).

Most teleost fish do not have appendages that break the surface of the water and can serve as a fixed attachment point for a tag as is possible with a shark's first dorsal fin. However, recently Holdsworth and colleagues obtained high-resolution satellite locations from striped marlin ( Tetrapturus audax) using Argos transmitters attached to the upper lobe of the caudal fin. Twenty-six striped marlin were tagged off New Zealand (2005-07) and tracked as far as the central Pacific Ocean. Remarkably, the caudal fin mounted Argos tags generated a significant number of high accurate positions of ±1 km or better. The caudal fin attachment methodology and antenna configuration were adjusted each season to improve transmission life and data quality, with the best results obtained in the last year of deployments (2007). The longest track duration was 102 days, with a total displacement of 4959 km and a total track distance from all locations received of 6850 km. Tag shedding and antenna failure appear to have limited the duration of SPOT tracks on fish. The high temporal and spatial resolution data revealed behaviors not previously observed in striped marlin, including associations to subsurface bathymetric features. High-resolution location data will be valuable for generating robust behavioral state-space and habitat selection models.

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780123745538002495

Catfish (Siluridae)

The catfish are the most common fish associated with human injuries, in both marine and freshwater environments. Marine catfish cause injuries through serrated bony sting organs localized on the anterior dorsal and pectoral fins and covered by an integumentary sheath with glandular venomous tissue. Freshwater catfish are siluriform fish, common in rivers and lakes. There are various venomous genera, such as the South American Pimelodus and Pimelodella and the North American Ictalurus and Noturus. The main populations at risk are amateur and professional fishermen. The mechanism of envenomation is similar to those of marine catfish.

Patients present with intense pain, blanching in the point of the puncture, malaise, vomiting, and possible local skin necrosis. The envenomation is considered of mild severity, but it can present serious complications, such as breaking and retention of fragments of the stingers and severe bacterial infections.

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780323296342000365

Clinical Features and Epidemiology

Clinical sigs of acute viral hemorrhagic septicemia may be nonspecific and include lethargy, darkening of the skin, anemia (evidenced by pale gills), and hemorrhages in many locations including the skin at the base of fins, muscles (dorsal musculature), gills, internal organs, meninges, and eyes. Abdominal distention due to ascites and exophthalmia can also occur. A neurologic form of disease presents as abnormal swimming behavior (spiraling or flashing). External signs or lesions may not be evident in the chronic stages of infection.

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus infection that results in significant mortality may occur in fish of any age. However, mortality is generally greatest in naïve populations and young fish, in which it can reach 100%. Fish that survive disease may become virus carriers. Epizootic outbreaks and fish losses occur at water temperatures from 4°C to 14°C. Both mortality and the proportion of fish that become virus carriers decrease as water temperatures approach or exceed 15°C. Outbreaks are more common in spring when water temperatures are rising or fluctuating.

Nucleic acid sequencing of the N-gene confirm genetic differences of strains of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus that are related to geographical location (molecular topotype) and, to a lesser extent, host specificity. These studies confirm four major virus genotypes with; genotype I found in wild marine fish and diseases outbreaks in rainbow trout in continental Europe; genotype II found in clinically normal Atlantic herring ( Clupea harengus), Atlantic cod ( Gadus morhua), and sprat ( Sprattus sprattus) from the Baltic Sea; genotype III from subclinical infection and disease epizootics involving sea-reared rainbow trout and turbot ( Scophthalmus maximus) in marine waters around the United Kingdom and Norway; and genotype IV found in fish in North America, Japan, and Korea. The genotype IV viruses are further segregated into three subtypes (IVa, IVb, and IVc). Subtype IVa is found in marine and anadromous fish populations such as Pacific herring ( Clupea pallasii), Pacific sardine ( Sardinops sagax), Pacific hake ( Theragra chalcogramma), and Japanese flounder ( Paralichthys olivaceus) from western North America and Asia, where it can be highly virulent. Genotype IVb invaded the North American Great Lakes in 2003 causing large-scale mortality events in muskellunge ( Esox masquinongy), freshwater drum ( Aplodinotus grunniens), and round goby ( Neogobius melanostomus) among other species. Genotype IVc has been isolated from disease epizootics in mummichog ( Fundulus heteroclitus), stickleback ( Gasterosteus aculeatus aculeatus), brown trout ( Salmo trutta), and striped bass ( Morone saxatilis) in the Atlantic coastal regions of North America.

Transmission of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus occurs horizontally through water, with excretion of virus in the urine and reproductive fluids from infected fish (both diseased and virus-carrier fish). Given the large number of fish species that are susceptible to viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus, active infections are maintained within wild fish populations and are the major concern for its introduction into aquaculture production facilities. Piscivorous birds can act as mechanical vectors of the virus.

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URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128009468000180

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The dorsal fins increase the lateral surface of the body during swimming, and thereby provide stability but at the expense of increasing drag ( see also BUOYANCY, LOCOMOTION, AND MOVEMENT IN FISHES | Maneuverability).

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Lens of Time: Secrets of Schooling | bioGraphic

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Maybe it's happened to you with a stranger at a party, or with a casual acquaintance at work. If you're really lucky, it's happened to you during a job interview, or within minutes of meeting the roommates your college assigned you.

You clicked with them.

It can happen whether you're shy or outgoing, whether the topic of conversation is one you're into or one you're barely familiar with. But the experience of clicking is unforgettable. Everything the other person says resonates with you. Your speech rhythms match. Conversation flows like rushing water, unimpeded by a single awkward silence and unruffled by even a moment of annoyance, puzzlement, or misunderstanding: the social equivalent of a flawless, gold-medal ski run.

The experience of clicking can seem, in short, near-miraculous...which is just the sort of challenge neuroscientists like. Insinuating that something can't be explained has the same kind of effect on researchers as waving a red flag in front of a bull. Of course they're going to hunt for the neurobiological underpinnings of clicking, and 2018 is shaping up to be a banner year for that.

If clicking with someone feels like you're "on the same wavelength," it turns out there's a good reason for that. In what's called "interpersonal synchronization," people click in an unspoken meeting of the minds about how long to linger before a museum painting or when to get up from the coffeehouse table. Such synchrony occurs when an overheard remark triggers in both of you a simultaneously raised eyebrow, when what you see on your companion's face reflects the feelings and thoughts inside your own brain. Your body language matches, what catches your attention catches his, you become impatient at the same time about the same things.

In a 2018 study of one version of syncing, neuroscientist Pavel Goldstein of the University of Colorado Boulder and colleagues enlisted 22 heterosexual couples, ages 23 to 32, and administered mildly painful heat on each woman's arm. As her partner offered comfort and sympathy, the researchers measured brain activity in each partner.

Simply being in each other's presence caused their brain waves to sync, as measured by EEG, particularly in wavelengths called the alpha-mu band. These brain waves are a mark of focused attention. Each couple was in sync, mirroring one another neurologically in terms of what they were focusing on-her pain, his efforts to comfort her (maybe second thoughts about volunteering for scientific experiments). When the man and woman held hands while she experienced the mild burn, synchrony, or what scientists call "brain-to-brain coupling," reached its zenith.

Seeing someone you love suffer is (hopefully) an unusual experience, but neural synchrony occurs in mundane situations, as well. In a 2018 study, 42 volunteers watched short video clips (ranging from America's Funniest Home Videos to an astronaut discussing seeing Earth from space, journalists debating a Barack Obama speech, and a homemade wedding film) while scientists measured their brain activity with fMRI. The scientists had previously mapped everyone's social network, noting who was whose friend, who was a friend of a friend, who was a friend twice removed, and so forth.

Brain activity while viewing the clips was "exceptionally similar among friends," said psychologist Thalia Wheatley of Dartmouth College, who led the study. "But that similarity decreases with increasing distance in the social network." In other words, friends were most similar in their patterns of neural activity, followed by friends of friends, and then friends of friends of friends. Those neural patterns, Wheatley said, suggest that "we are exceptionally similar to our friends in how we perceive and respond to the world around us. You click more with friends than with non-friends, which fits with our intuition that we resonate with some people more than others. There seem to be neurobiological reasons for that."

The brain regions with the most similar activity among friends included subcortical areas such as the nucleus accumbens and the amygdala, which are involved in motivation and processing emotions. There was also remarkable similarity in areas involved in deciding what to pay attention to, and regions in the inferior parietal lobe that have been linked to discerning others' mental states, processing the narrative content of stories, and generally making sense of the world.

Wheatley calls it neural homophily (the idea that like befriends like). Responding to the world in a similar way, as measured by brain activity, underlies the phenomenon of clicking: It's why you and that stranger at a party or assigned roommate laugh at the same things, want to chat endlessly about the same topic, and see the logic in the same argument. If two people interpret and respond to the world in similar ways, they're easily able to predict one another's thoughts and actions, Wheatley said. This increased predictability makes it easier to interact and communicate, which makes conversations and shared experiences more enjoyable. It also makes friendships more likely.

But homophily also describes how birds of a feather flock together, where the "feathers" are things like age, ethnicity, and education level: People tend to become friends with those of the same demographic characteristics. That raises the question of whether demographic traits cause particular neural patterns. If so, then similar brain-activity patterns in friends would simply be the result of people with similar education levels, ethnicities, and other traits-perhaps including ideological beliefs, recreational interests, and cultural preferences-gravitating toward one another. In other words, maybe those traits made people friends, and the neural activity was secondary, a mere bystander to the actual cause.

The scientists knew they had to settle that, and they think they did. Wheatley and her colleagues used standard statistical techniques to measure whether neural patterns were a so-called independent variable, not a mere reflection of something else (such as a demographic variable). They were. Even when controlling for similarities in age, gender, nationality, and ethnicity, brain-activity patterns were more similar between friends than friends of friends and greater-degrees-of-separation friends. "All of these were less predictive of friendship than neural response," Wheatley said.

There's a chicken-and-egg problem, however: Which came first, clicking due to neural synchrony or friendship? "We can't tease those two possibilities apart because our study looked at only one moment in time," Wheatley said. "Only a longitudinal study could tell us" whether people seek out (probably unconsciously) those with similar neural patterns and become friends, or whether friendship causes people's neural patterns to become more similar. She is conducting further studies to see whether shared experience drives neural similarity. In this case, people who are thrown together by forces beyond their control (like the roommate assignment lottery), and don't initially see the world in the same way, come to do so and go on to adopt other people's views.

Alternatively, "Maybe we look for people who are just like us in how they perceive and respond to the world, and find ourselves in an echo chamber," Wheatley said. She also plans to study strangers, measure their neurological responses to video clips, and see if similarity predicts whether they become friends when they meet.

Brain-to-brain coupling

The emerging understanding of clicking might shed light on some social mysteries. People whose conversations with strangers and even acquaintances are riddled with awkward silences might have neural patterns that are out of sync with almost everyone else's. They don't find the same things interesting, their attention rarely lands where others' does, and as a result they don't click. (This describes some people on the autism spectrum, but clicking has not been specifically studied in this population.)

Short of connecting brains with electrodes to sync their activity, there might be a way to increase your chances of clicking. We feel more connected with people whose postures, vocal rhythms, facial expressions, and even eyeblinks match our own. Maybe clicking can be triggered from the outside in: Consciously sync the actions you can control-posture, expression, and the like-with other people's, and your brain activity may follow. Click.

The complex things we do together-playing soccer, architecture, creating the internet, not to mention simply getting along-require us to quickly coordinate our actions. According to a paper in Trends in Cognitive Science in 2012 by Uri Hasson and colleagues, "Despite the central role of other individuals in shaping our minds, most cognitive studies focus on processes that occur within a single individual." They called for a shift "from a single-brain to a multi-brain frame of reference." They argued that we transmit signals that allow the neural processes in one brain to couple to those in another, creating a social network that leads to "complex joint behaviors that could not have emerged in isolation."
This article was originally published in the August issue of Mindful magazine. Read the original article.
Greater Good wants to know: Do you think this article will influence your opinions or behavior?

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Maybe it's happened to you with a stranger at a party, or with a casual acquaintance at work. If you're really lucky, it's happened to you during a job interview, or within minutes of meeting the roommates your college assigned you. You clicked with them.

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Becoming endangered

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The extinction of the baiji dolphin in the Yangtze River which was threatened by so many of the same issues as the Indus and Ganges river dolphins, clearly demonstrates how important conservation actions are to save species.

Addressing the conservation issues facing the Indus and Ganges dolphins requires a large coordinated effort across the species range. We are focussing on our strengths and will be providing targeted technical veterinary support to grassroots groups in India and Pakistan that are working to rescue river dolphins that are trapped in canals.

Indus dolphins in Sindh Province, Pakistan accidentally leave the river and become trapped in irrigation canals where they die unless they are rescued. Similarly in Uttar Pradesh in India, the same phenomenon occurs, where Ganges dolphins are reported in canals requiring rescue.

In both countries, there are local teams working to locate and rescue trapped dolphins and return them to their river habitat. Sometimes as many as ten dolphins each year are rescued. This presents a valuable opportunity for biologists to gather important data on the health and reproductive status of this endangered species which so far is almost completely lacking.

We will be providing training and long-term technical support in veterinary skills, health assessment, and sample analysis to Indian and Pakistani researchers with the ultimate goal to provide important information that will improve the conservation of these populations.

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Indus and Ganges River Dolphins - National Marine Mammal Foundation

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The extinction of the baiji dolphin in the Yangtze River which was threatened by so many of the same issues as the Indus and Ganges river dolphins, clearly demonstrates how important conservation actions are to save species. Addressing the conservation issues facing the Indus and Ganges dolphins requires a large coordinated effort across the species range.

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Black female American writer who was a part of the Black Arts Movement.

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Toni Morrison, original name Chloe Anthony Wofford, (born February 18, 1931, Lorain, Ohio, U.S.-died August 5, 2019, Bronx, New York), American writer noted for her examination of Black experience (particularly Black female experience) within the Black community. She received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.

Morrison grew up in the American Midwest in a family that possessed an intense love of and appreciation for Black culture. Storytelling, songs, and folktales were a deeply formative part of her childhood. She attended Howard University (B.A., 1953) and Cornell University (M.A., 1955). After teaching at Texas Southern University for two years, she taught at Howard from 1957 to 1964. In 1965 Morrison became a fiction editor at Random House, where she worked for a number of years. In 1984 she began teaching writing at the State University of New York at Albany, which she left in 1989 to join the faculty of Princeton University; she retired in 2006.
(Read W.E.B. Du Bois' 1926 Britannica essay on African American literature.)
Morrison's first book, The Bluest Eye (1970), is a novel of initiation concerning a victimized adolescent Black girl who is obsessed by white standards of beauty and longs to have blue eyes. In 1973 a second novel, Sula, was published; it examines (among other issues) the dynamics of friendship and the expectations for conformity within the community. Song of Solomon (1977) is told by a male narrator in search of his identity; its publication brought Morrison to national attention. Tar Baby (1981), set on a Caribbean island, explores conflicts of race, class, and sex.

The critically acclaimed Beloved (1987), which won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction, is based on the true story of a runaway slave who, at the point of recapture, kills her infant daughter in order to spare her a life of slavery. A film adaptation of the novel was released in 1998 and starred Oprah Winfrey. In addition, Morrison wrote the libretto for Margaret Garner (2005), an opera about the same story that inspired Beloved.
(Read Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s Britannica essay on "Monuments of Hope.")
In 1992 Morrison released Jazz, a story of violence and passion set in New York City's Harlem during the 1920s. Subsequent novels were Paradise (1998), a richly detailed portrait of a Black utopian community in Oklahoma, and Love (2003), an intricate family story that reveals the myriad facets of love and its ostensible opposite. A Mercy (2008) deals with slavery in 17th-century America. In the redemptive Home (2012), a traumatized Korean War veteran encounters racism after returning home and later overcomes apathy to rescue his sister. In God Help the Child (2015), Morrison chronicled the ramifications of child abuse and neglect through the tale of Bride, a Black girl with dark skin who is born to light-skinned parents.

A work of criticism, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination, was published in 1992. Many of Morrison's essays and speeches were collected in What Moves at the Margin: Selected Nonfiction (2008; edited by Carolyn C. Denard) and The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations (2019). She and her son, Slade Morrison, cowrote a number of children's books, including the Who's Got Game? series, The Book About Mean People (2002), and Please, Louise (2014). She also penned Remember (2004), which chronicles the hardships of Black students during the integration of the American public school system; aimed at children, it uses archival photographs juxtaposed with captions speculating on the thoughts of their subjects. For that work, Morrison won the Coretta Scott King Award in 2005.

The central theme of Morrison's novels is the Black American experience; in an unjust society, her characters struggle to find themselves and their cultural identity. Her use of fantasy, her sinuous poetic style, and her rich interweaving of the mythic gave her stories great strength and texture. In 2010 Morrison was made an officer of the French Legion of Honour. Two years later she was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom. Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019) is a documentary about her life and career.

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Toni Morrison | Biography, Books, Beloved, The Bluest Eye, & Facts

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Toni Morrison, original name Chloe Anthony Wofford, (born February 18, 1931, Lorain, Ohio, U.S.-died August 5, 2019, Bronx, New York), American writer noted for her examination of Black experience (particularly Black female experience) within the Black community. She received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

It’s not uncommon to hear the advice that entrepreneurs should take more calculated risks if they want to be successful. In fact, some billionaires have built their personal brands on a foundation of risk; as an example, Richard Branson often speaks of the risks he took when he was young, and he encourages up-and-comers to do the same.

aluxum | Getty Images

Related: Risk or Uncertainty: Which Is Better to Face?

Taking risks, in fact, can be a beneficial way to separate yourself from the pack. If the fear of failure is holding back your peers, your willingness to take a risk could give you an open, uncontested opportunity. In addition, risky decisions offer valuable lessons, regardless of whether you succeed or fail.

But does risk-taking, in general, lead to success? The answer depends on the following factors:

The importance of "calculated" risk-taking

First, it’s important to note that open risk-taking generally isn't productive. Instead, successful entrepreneurs tend to take risks in ways that limit their potential losses. As Leonard C. Green pointed out, in Entrepreneur, "Entrepreneurs are not risk-takers. They are calculated risk takers.

"The difference between risk-takers and calculated risk-takers is the difference between failure and success," Green said.

In other words, calculated risk-takers might not play a game of roulette, because the odds are against them, yet they might be open to playing blackjack because it’s possible in that game to tip the odds in your favor through strategic play.

Smart entrepreneurs also find ways to mitigate risks, whether that means purchasing insurance, protecting their websites from hackers or conducting a risk-assessment of theirbusinesses.

Related: 5 Ways Mark Zuckerberg Took Risks, for Better or Worse

The importance of "survivorship bias"

Still, what are we to make of all the successful entrepreneurs who credit at least a portion of their success to risk? The evidence they cite often isn’t good enough to illustrate the effects of risk-taking, because we are left susceptible to survivorship bias.

Survivorship bias is best illustrated by the historical example of Abraham Wald and the question of whether to coat military planes in armor in World War II. The Allies were seeing too many planes getting shot down and wanted to coat them in armor to protect them, but could not feasibly coat the entire plane.

Some observers suggested studying the planes that returned home and ooking at their bullet patterns, then providing armor in the areas of the plane that had been most heavily shot -- since these were the areas where a plane was most likely to get hit.

Wald offered a dissenting opinion. He suggested coating the areas of planes that corresponded with untouched areas on returning planes. There was no available sample for planes that had been shot down, and returning planes proved which areas of a plane could be shot without necessarily destroying the plane.

The difference between "risk" vs. "uncertainty"

We also need to consider the difference between what we conceive of as constituting “risk” versus what we describe as “uncertainty.” Both concepts describe a situation with an unknown outcome, but in the words of economist Frank Knight, “The essential fact is that 'risk' means in some cases a quantity susceptible of measurement, while at other times it is something distinctly not of this character.

Continued Knight: "There are far-reaching and crucial differences in the bearings of the phenomena depending on which of the two is really present and operating.”

You can think of risk as a distribution of known probabilities. If you shuffle a standard deck of playing cards, you know your chances of drawing the king of hearts will be 1 in 52. The chances of drawing any heart card will be 1 in 4. You can calculate the other probabilities from there, and place bets in a way that aligns with the risk you’re taking.

Where uncertainty comes in is when you’re dealing with unknown probability distributions. Think about watching someone assemble cards randomly, from different decks, until that person has a new deck of 52 cards. There could be 52 kings of hearts in there! Or 51 standard playing cards with an extra 10 of clubs! Or anything in between, for that matter.

By this definition, successful entrepreneurs tend to be those who seek uncertainty, rather than risk. They aren’t building businesses that have a 25 percent chance of success; they’re building businesses where the chance of success is more ambiguous.

The bottom line

The bottom line here is that risk-taking does have some correlation with success, but there are too many complicating factors to say that risk-taking increases your chances of success. Survivorship bias, meanwhile, distorts our perspective on the role that risk plays in success. Furthermore, we use inconsistent terminology to describe the differences between uncertainty and risk.

So, ultimately, even the best and boldest entrepreneurs need to find ways to mitigate damage from the risks they take.

Related: 'Risk It All and Risk It Often' According to This Veteran Entrepreneur

Knowing of these factors, you may find it possible to turn the risks you take into advantages, instead of liabilities.

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Does Risk-Taking Really Lead to Success? That Depends.

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Open risk-taking is a bad idea. But calculated risk-taking is something else again.

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Hosts American Public Media's daily radio program and podcast The Slowdown.

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Tracy K. Smith was born in Massachusetts and raised in northern California. She earned a BA from Harvard University and an MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. From 1997 to 1999 she held a Stegner fellowship at Stanford University. Smith is the author of four books of poetry: The…

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The Yupik-speaking Inuit people of the Bering Strait

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The Yupik-speaking Inuit people of the Bering Strait

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Spoken in Alaska, Canada and Greenland and is a language beginning to be forgotten.

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Iñupiaq, sometimes also referred to as Alaskan Inuit, has four dialect groups including Qawairaq, Bering Strait, North Slope, and Malimiut -within these broader dialect groups, there can be even more variation tied to the local communities.

The languages in the Inuit-Yupik- Unangax̂ most likely stem from a common ancestor language or proto-language. A feature of this language family, including Iñupiaq, is the formation of words with a root word and the addition of suffixes. Iñupiaq is what linguistics call a polysynthetic language, meaning words are combined with suffixes, post bases, and verb endings. A lot of information can be shared with one word; a sentence can be represented with one word.

Take a look at some examples.

She / he / it is begining to eat.

Real or genuine person

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Indigenous Languages of Alaska: Iñupiaq (U.S. National Park Service)

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Iñupiaq, sometimes also referred to as Alaskan Inuit, has four dialect groups including Qawairaq, Bering Strait, North Slope, and Malimiut -within these broader dialect groups, there can be even more variation tied to the local communities. The languages in the Inuit-Yupik- Unangax̂ most likely stem from a common ancestor language or proto-language.

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New Zealand dolphins are pretty tiny. Smaller than an average human, Hector's dolphins are more petite than the Maui subspecies and grow up to 1.45m from nose to tail. Weighing between 40 and 57kg, their bodies have beautiful black, white and grey markings, with white bellies and throats and striking black tails. On their heads, they sport a distinctive black eye mask that runs all the way to their black, rounded flippers - making them quite the lookers. Earning them the nickname Mickey Mouse dolphins, their dorsal fins are rounded in shape, much like a mouse's ear!

What's life like for Hector's dolphins?

Hector's dolphins are social beings and are normally found in small pods of two to twenty individuals. They are a companionable bunch and sometimes get together in larger pods for short periods of time. During these encounters, the dolphins become quite boisterous, acrobatic, excitable and noisy, performing stunts to attract potential mates. Their social system is called 'fission-fusion' (similar to other dolphins). This basically means that they're not particularly shy, and if a group of four dolphins meets a group of five, they don't necessarily split up into their original groups again but can go on to chop and change, forming new groups when they go their separate ways.

What do Hector's dolphins eat?

Hector's dolphins eat a variety of coastal schooling fish including red cod, yellow-eyed mullet, stargazer and squid. Like other dolphins they use echolocation to find their food.

Where do Hector's dolphins live?

Hector's dolphins have one of the most restricted ranges of all dolphins; they live only in some coastal areas of New Zealand and nowhere else. They prefer shallow waters less than 100m (328ft) deep and 16km (just under 10 miles) from New Zealand's shore. Preferring to stick to where they know, individual dolphins usually cover an area of about 50km of coastline, and scientists have recorded the same individuals in the same general area year-round for over 20 years. These days, their distribution is patchy around New Zealand's coast - a stark reminder of the difficulties they face. Due to a major decline in numbers, only small, fractured populations remain.

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Hector's dolphin - Whale & Dolphin Conservation USA

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New Zealand dolphins are pretty tiny. Smaller than an average human, Hector's dolphins are more petite than the Maui subspecies and grow up to 1.45m from nose to tail. Weighing between 40 and 57kg, their bodies have beautiful black, white and grey markings, with white bellies and throats and striking black tails.

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Technology used for those studying the forest. Similar devices used for studying marine life.

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Bioacoustics for Conservation in Papua New Guinea

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The Kuroshio Current is one of the major ocean currents. It begins east of the Philippines then flows in a northeastward direction past Taiwan and Japan. It forms the western side of the clockwise North Pacific Ocean gyre. A new book just published by AGU explores the physical, biogeochemical, and ecosystem dynamics of the Kuroshio Current. Here, one of the editors explains what makes this particular ocean current so interesting and what further research is needed to better understand its characteristics and impacts.
What are some of the key characteristics of the Kuroshio Current?

The surface water of the Kuroshio moves rapidly, transporting heat, salt, organic and inorganic matter from south to north.

The surface waters of the Kuroshio Current are warm and salty. This is because the Kuroshio starts in the tropics where the westward flowing North Equatorial Current reaches the western boundary of the North Pacific.

The surface water of the Kuroshio moves rapidly at speeds of around two meters per second, transporting a large amount of heat, salt, organic and inorganic matter from south to north.

The streaks of warm water can be clearly seen in satellite images in spring. The water looks almost transparent because there are no small marine floating organisms; this is because the surface waters of the Kuroshio origin are nutrient poor. Despite the nutrient poor conditions, many pelagic fish species use the Kuroshio region for their spawning and migrations. This is known as the "Kuroshio Paradox."
How does this ocean current influence life on the Japanese archipelago?
The main physical influence is on the local weather since air temperatures tend to be controlled by heat in ocean surface waters.

Because the Kuroshio Current carries warmer water from south to north, transported heat often induces cloud formations increasing the chance of rain and changing the path of storms.

For example, if the Kuroshio takes a large meander during the winter season, paths of low pressure shift southward near Honshu Island, in turn increasing the chance of snows in Tokyo.

The Kuroshio also has important economic, social, and cultural significance in Japan. The rich waters support a large fishing industry which is significant in a society where fish is the main source of protein in the diet. In addition, many Kuroshio species, such as Skipjack tuna, lobster, and turban shell are offered in traditional ceremonies at shrines.

There is interannual variability in the behavior of the Kuroshio, which has a knock-on effect on nutrient transport and thus biological production and the associated fisheries industry, but the reasons for these connections are still unknown.
Is there an explanation for the "Kuroshio Paradox"?
The reason for rich fish stocks being found in nutrient poor waters has been a compelling question for many ocean scientists. The key to unravelling the mystery may lie underneath the nutrient poor waters at the surface.

Recent studies show that the Kuroshio transports a large amount of nutrients in dark subsurface layers from south to north as a nutrient stream.

South of Honshu Island, the Kuroshio Current frequently draws Kuroshio waters into coastal regions. This not only pulls the warm surface waters towards land but also the lower layers of nutrient rich water.
How does the Kuroshio Current affect the climate?

The Kuroshio Extension is one of the major net carbon dioxide sinks for the Earth's atmosphere.

Recent studies of ocean biogeochemistry show that the area downstream of the Kuroshio-the Kuroshio Extension-east of Honshu Island, is one of the major net carbon dioxide sinks for the Earth's atmosphere, similar to the Gulf Stream Extension in the North Atlantic. These "carbon hotspots" absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and send it to the bottom of the ocean.

Researchers are still exploring why the Kuroshio Extension and Gulf Stream Extension are the regions of largest net CO 2 absorption.

One of the reasons is that the warm waters transported from south to north are cooled as they move to northwards, which increases their ability to absorb CO ₂.

Another possible explanation is phytoplankton photosynthesis in these regions.

Further research is needed to better understand of the role of the Kuroshio nutrient stream in forming the CO ₂ sink in order to better predict ocean responses and feedbacks to climate variabilities in future.
What are some of the challenges of studying the Kuroshio Current?
The greatest challenge is to accommodate varieties of scale -both in space and time-at which important physical processes occur.

The greatest challenge is to accommodate varieties of scale, all of which are required for a comprehensive understanding of the physical, biogeochemical and ecosystem dynamics of the Kuroshio.

We can study the Kuroshio on an ocean basin scale covering several thousand kilometers; studies suggest that the current varies on a decadal timescale in response to changes in the atmosphere.

We can study eddies, which span several hundred kilometers; research suggests that these emanate from the Kuroshio on a timescale of weeks to months.

We can also study ocean fronts, which can break into smaller flows on a scale of hundreds to tens of hundreds of meters and timescales as short as days.

In turn, these interact with subsurface ocean waves and trigger microscale turbulence at several tens of meters to millimeters.

All of these scales are required for a comprehensive understanding of the physical, biogeochemical and ecosystem dynamics of the Kuroshio. However, it is not yet possible to resolve all the scales at the same time both in the observations and in the numerical simulations.

What is certain is that the curious characteristics of the Kuroshio Current will keep scientists busy for many decades to come.

Kuroshio Current: Physical, Biogeochemical, and Ecosystem Dynamics, 2019, 336 pp., ISBN: 978-1-119-42834-3, list price $199.95 (hardcover), $159.99 (e-book)

-Takeyoshi Nagai (email: takeyoshi@gmail.com), Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Japan
Editor's Note: It is the policy of AGU Publications to invite the authors or editors of newly published books to write a summary for Eos Editors' Vox. Citation:
Nagai, T. (2019), The Kuroshio current: Artery of life, Eos, 100, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019EO131369. Published on 27 August 2019.

Text © 2019. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

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The Kuroshio Current: Artery of Life - Eos

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The Kuroshio Current is one of the major ocean currents. It begins east of the Philippines then flows in a northeastward direction past Taiwan and Japan. It forms the western side of the clockwise North Pacific Ocean gyre. A new book just published by AGU explores the physical, biogeochemical, and ecosystem dynamics of the Kuroshio Current.

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The appearance of a false bottom.

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Deep Scattering Layer - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

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The DSL micronekton, which includes fishes (e.g., myctophids, gonostomids), squid, and crustaceans (especially euphausiids and sergestid shrimps) are likely the primary zooplanktivores in the open ocean.

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Black Americans wanting equal rights under the law in the United States.

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Jim Crow Laws

During Reconstruction, Black people took on leadership roles like never before. They held public office and sought legislative changes for equality and the right to vote.

In 1868, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution gave Black people equal protection under the law. In 1870, the 15th Amendment granted Black American men the right to vote. Still, many white Americans, especially those in the South, were unhappy that people they'd once enslaved were now on a more-or-less equal playing field.

To marginalize Black people, keep them separate from white people and erase the progress they'd made during Reconstruction, " Jim Crow " laws were established in the South beginning in the late 19th century. Black people couldn't use the same public facilities as white people, live in many of the same towns or go to the same schools. Interracial marriage was illegal, and most Black people couldn't vote because they were unable to pass voter literacy tests.

Jim Crow laws weren't adopted in northern states; however, Black people still experienced discrimination at their jobs or when they tried to buy a house or get an education. To make matters worse, laws were passed in some states to limit voting rights for Black Americans.

Moreover, southern segregation gained ground in 1896 when the U.S. Supreme Court declared in Plessy v. Ferguson that facilities for Black and white people could be "separate but equal."

World War II and Civil Rights

Prior to World War II, most Black people worked as low-wage farmers, factory workers, domestics or servants. By the early 1940s, war-related work was booming, but most Black Americans weren't given better-paying jobs. They were also discouraged from joining the military.

After thousands of Black people threatened to march on Washington to demand equal employment rights, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 on June 25, 1941. It opened national defense jobs and other government jobs to all Americans regardless of race, creed, color or national origin.

Black men and women served heroically in World War II, despite suffering segregation and discrimination during their deployment. The Tuskegee Airmen broke the racial barrier to become the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps and earned more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses. Yet many Black veterans were met with prejudice and scorn upon returning home. This was a stark contrast to why America had entered the war to begin with-to defend freedom and democracy in the world.

As the Cold War began, President Harry Truman initiated a civil rights agenda, and in 1948 issued Executive Order 9981 to end discrimination in the military. These events helped set the stage for grass-roots initiatives to enact racial equality legislation and incite the civil rights movement.

Rosa Parks

On December 1, 1955, a 42-year-old woman named Rosa Parks found a seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus after work. Segregation laws at the time stated Black passengers must sit in designated seats at the back of the bus, and Parks complied.

When a white man got on the bus and couldn't find a seat in the white section at the front of the bus, the bus driver instructed Parks and three other Black passengers to give up their seats. Parks refused and was arrested.

As word of her arrest ignited outrage and support, Parks unwittingly became the "mother of the modern-day civil rights movement." Black community leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) led by Baptist minister Martin Luther King Jr., a role which would place him front and center in the fight for civil rights.

Parks' courage incited the MIA to stage a boycott of the Montgomery bus system. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 381 days. On November 14, 1956, the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating was unconstitutional.

Little Rock Nine

In 1954, the civil rights movement gained momentum when the United States Supreme Court made segregation illegal in public schools in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. In 1957, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas asked for volunteers from all-Black high schools to attend the formerly segregated school.

On September 4, 1957, nine Black students, known as the Little Rock Nine, arrived at Central High School to begin classes but were instead met by the Arkansas National Guard (on order of Governor Orval Faubus) and a screaming, threatening mob. The Little Rock Nine tried again a couple of weeks later and made it inside, but had to be removed for their safety when violence ensued.

Finally, President Dwight D. Eisenhower intervened and ordered federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine to and from classes at Central High. Still, the students faced continual harassment and prejudice.

Their efforts, however, brought much-needed attention to the issue of desegregation and fueled protests on both sides of the issue.

Civil Rights Act of 1957

Even though all Americans had gained the right to vote, many southern states made it difficult for Black citizens. They often required prospective voters of color to take literacy tests that were confusing, misleading and nearly impossible to pass.

Wanting to show a commitment to the civil rights movement and minimize racial tensions in the South, the Eisenhower administration pressured Congress to consider new civil rights legislation.

On September 9, 1957, President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law, the first major civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. It allowed federal prosecution of anyone who tried to prevent someone from voting. It also created a commission to investigate voter fraud.

Sit-In at Woolworth's Lunch Counter

Despite making some gains, Black Americans still experienced blatant prejudice in their daily lives. On February 1, 1960, four college students took a stand against segregation in Greensboro, North Carolina when they refused to leave a Woolworth's lunch counter without being served.

Over the next several days, hundreds of people joined their cause in what became known as the Greensboro sit-ins. After some were arrested and charged with trespassing, protesters launched a boycott of all segregated lunch counters until the owners caved and the original four students were finally served at the Woolworth's lunch counter where they'd first stood their ground.

Their efforts spearheaded peaceful sit-ins and demonstrations in dozens of cities and helped launch the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to encourage all students to get involved in the civil rights movement. It also caught the eye of young college graduate Stokely Carmichael, who joined the SNCC during the Freedom Summer of 1964 to register Black voters in Mississippi. In 1966, Carmichael became the chair of the SNCC, giving his famous speech in which he originated the phrase "Black power."

Freedom Riders

On May 4, 1961, 13 " Freedom Riders"-seven Black and six white activists-mounted a Greyhound bus in Washington, D.C., embarking on a bus tour of the American south to protest segregated bus terminals. They were testing the 1960 decision by the Supreme Court in Boynton v. Virginia that declared the segregation of interstate transportation facilities unconstitutional.

Facing violence from both police officers and white protesters, the Freedom Rides drew international attention. On Mother's Day 1961, the bus reached Anniston, Alabama, where a mob mounted the bus and threw a bomb into it. The Freedom Riders escaped the burning bus but were badly beaten. Photos of the bus engulfed in flames were widely circulated, and the group could not find a bus driver to take them further. U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (brother to President John F. Kennedy) negotiated with Alabama Governor John Patterson to find a suitable driver, and the Freedom Riders resumed their journey under police escort on May 20. But the officers left the group once they reached Montgomery, where a white mob brutally attacked the bus. Attorney General Kennedy responded to the riders-and a call from Martin Luther King Jr.-by sending federal marshals to Montgomery.

On May 24, 1961, a group of Freedom Riders reached Jackson, Mississippi. Though met with hundreds of supporters, the group was arrested for trespassing in a "whites-only" facility and sentenced to 30 days in jail. Attorneys for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP) brought the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court, which reversed the convictions. Hundreds of new Freedom Riders were drawn to the cause, and the rides continued.

In the fall of 1961, under pressure from the Kennedy administration, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in interstate transit terminals

March on Washington

Arguably one of the most famous events of the civil rights movement took place on August 28, 1963: the March on Washington. It was organized and attended by civil rights leaders such as A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King Jr.

More than 200,000 people of all races congregated in Washington, D. C. for the peaceful march with the main purpose of forcing civil rights legislation and establishing job equality for everyone. The highlight of the march was King's speech in which he continually stated, "I have a dream..."

King's " I Have a Dream" speech galvanized the national civil rights movement and became a slogan for equality and freedom.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964-legislation initiated by President John F. Kennedy before his assassination -into law on July 2 of that year.

King and other civil rights activists witnessed the signing. The law guaranteed equal employment for all, limited the use of voter literacy tests and allowed federal authorities to ensure public facilities were integrated.

Bloody Sunday

On March 7, 1965, the civil rights movement in Alabama took an especially violent turn as 600 peaceful demonstrators participated in the Selma to Montgomery march to protest the killing of Black civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson by a white police officer and to encourage legislation to enforce the 15th amendment.

As the protesters neared the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they were blocked by Alabama state and local police sent by Alabama Governor George C. Wallace, a vocal opponent of desegregation. Refusing to stand down, protesters moved forward and were viciously beaten and teargassed by police and dozens of protesters were hospitalized.

The entire incident was televised and became known as " Bloody Sunday." Some activists wanted to retaliate with violence, but King pushed for nonviolent protests and eventually gained federal protection for another march.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

When President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965, he took the Civil Rights Act of 1964 several steps further. The new law banned all voter literacy tests and provided federal examiners in certain voting jurisdictions.

It also allowed the attorney general to contest state and local poll taxes. As a result, poll taxes were later declared unconstitutional in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections in 1966.

Part of the Act was walked back decades later, in 2013, when a Supreme Court decision ruled that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional, holding that the constraints placed on certain states and federal review of states' voting procedures were outdated.

Civil Rights Leaders Assassinated

The civil rights movement had tragic consequences for two of its leaders in the late 1960s. On February 21, 1965, former Nation of Islam leader and Organization of Afro-American Unity founder Malcolm X was assassinated at a rally.

On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on his hotel room's balcony. Emotionally-charged looting and riots followed, putting even more pressure on the Johnson administration to push through additional civil rights laws.

Fair Housing Act of 1968

The Fair Housing Act became law on April 11, 1968, just days after King's assassination. It prevented housing discrimination based on race, sex, national origin and religion. It was also the last legislation enacted during the civil rights era.

The civil rights movement was an empowering yet precarious time for Black Americans. The efforts of civil rights activists and countless protesters of all races brought about legislation to end segregation, Black voter suppression and discriminatory employment and housing practices.

Sources

A Brief History of Jim Crow. Constitutional Rights Foundation.
Civil Rights Act of 1957. Civil Rights Digital Library.
Document for June 25th: Executive Order 8802: Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry. National Archives.
Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-In. African American Odyssey.
Little Rock School Desegregation (1957). The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute Stanford.
Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Global Freedom Struggle. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute Stanford.
Rosa Marie Parks Biography. Rosa and Raymond Parks.
Selma, Alabama, (Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965). BlackPast.org.
The Civil Rights Movement (1919-1960s). National Humanities Center.
The Little Rock Nine. National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior: Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site.
Turning Point: World War II. Virginia Historical Society.

Photo Galleries

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Civil Rights Movement: Timeline, Key Events & Leaders | HISTORY

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The civil rights movement was a struggle for justice and equality for African Americans that took place mainly in the 1950s and 1960s. Among its leaders were Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, the Little Rock Nine, Rosa Parks and many others.

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The benefits of breathing exercises.

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Out with the old, stale air and in with new fresh air. That's the theme of the two most useful breathing exercises-pursed lip breathing and belly breathing-taught by pulmonary rehabilitation specialists to individuals with chronic lung diseases such as asthma and COPD. Like aerobic exercise improves your heart function and strengthens your muscles, breathing exercises can make your lungs more efficient.

Why Breathing Exercises Help

When you have healthy lungs, breathing is natural and easy. You breathe in and out with your diaphragm doing about 80 percent of the work to fill your lungs with a mixture of oxygen and other gases, and then to send the waste gas out. Lung HelpLine respiratory therapist Mark Courtney compares the process to a screen door with a spring, opening and shutting on its own. "Our lungs are springy, like the door. Over time, though, with asthma and especially with COPD, our lungs lose that springiness. They don't return to the same level as when you start breathing, and air gets trapped in our lungs," Courtney explains.

Over time, stale air builds up, leaving less room for the diaphragm to contract and bring in fresh oxygen. With the diaphragm not working to full capacity, the body starts to use other muscles in the neck, back and chest for breathing. This translates into lower oxygen levels, and less reserve for exercise and activity. If practiced regularly, breathing exercises can help rid the lungs of accumulated stale air, increase oxygen levels and get the diaphragm to return to its job of helping you breathe.

Pursed Lip Breathing

This exercise reduces the number of breaths you take and keeps your airways open longer. More air is able to flow in and out of your lungs so you can be more physically active. To practice it, simply breathe in through your nose and breathe out at least twice as long through your mouth, with pursed lips.

Belly Breathing, aka Diaphragmic Breathing

As with pursed lip breathing, start by breathing in through your nose. Pay attention to how your belly fills up with air. You can put your hands lightly on your stomach, or place a tissue box on it, so you can be aware of your belly rising and falling. Breathe out through your mouth at least two to three times as long as your inhale. Be sure to relax your neck and shoulders as you retrain your diaphragm to take on the work of helping to fill and empty your lungs.

Practice Makes Perfect

Courtney warns that although these exercises seem simple, they take some time to master. "You don't want to first try these exercises when you're short of breath," he says. "You want to try them when you're breathing OK, and then later on when you're more comfortable, you can use them when you're short of breath." Ideally, you should practice both exercises about 5 to 10 minutes every day.

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Out with the old, stale air and in with new fresh air. That's the theme of the two most useful breathing exercises-pursed lip breathing and belly breathing-taught by pulmonary rehabilitation specialists to individuals with chronic lung diseases such as asthma and COPD.

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Two different things, but both are equally important to your mental, emotional and physical health.

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April is National Mental Health Awareness Month. With the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic weighing on people over the last year, it's more important than ever to advocate for mental health resources and daily routines that promote physical, mental and emotional well-being.

Even without a pandemic, Americans are stressed. About 33 percent of people report feeling extreme stress, and up to 73 percent report that stress impacts their mental health.

Rest is vital for better mental health, increased concentration and memory, a healthier immune system, reduced stress, improved mood and even a better metabolism.

Importance of relaxation, rest and sleep

So many Americans are caught in the grind of work, family responsibilities and ongoing stress. Often, we only allow ourselves to truly rest on holidays or vacation. However, it's so important to prioritize adequate rest and quality sleep in your everyday life. Rest and sleep are two different things, but both are equally important to your mental, emotional and physical health. Plus, prioritizing rest can actually improve your quality of sleep.

Rest can be difficult to define because it can look different for everyone. Rest is any behavior aimed at increasing physical or mental well-being. It can be active, such as going for a walk outside, or passive, such as taking 10 minutes to sit down and breathe deeply. Regardless of how you choose to rest, these daily behaviors can help you recover and recharge from physical and mental effort. That's why better rest is linked to better physical and mental health.

Sleep, on the other hand, is a body-mind state in which individuals experience sensory detachment from our surroundings. Sleep is an essential function of the body and impacts every system from our cognitive function to immune health. Quality sleep can help us reset, recover and recharge. It's absolutely vital to brain function, memory, concentration, immune health and metabolism. Unlike rest, sleep is something your body cannot function without. In fact, if you are sleep deprived, your body will force you to sleep, no matter what you're in the middle of.

Rest and relaxation tips

If left untreated, long-term stress can cause chest pain, headaches, digestive issues, anxiety, depression, changes in sexual desire and inability to focus. It may not seem like a big deal to skip relaxation in your daily routine. However, there are several benefits to daily rest and relaxation:

reduced stress and anxiety

improved mood

decreased blood pressure

chronic pain relief

improved immune health

stronger cardiovascular system

So, how can you better prioritize rest? Find small ways in which you can incorporate rest and relaxation into your daily routine. We make time every day to eat, take our kids to school, do errands and go to work. Why should rest be any different? Start by finding a relaxation technique that works for you. This could be meditating, practicing yoga, walking outside, listening to music, reading a book, taking a bath or any combination of these things. When planning out your daily routine, find a consistent time to rest. For example, you could take a relaxing bath before bed, practice meditation each morning or go for a short walk during your lunch break at work.

Tips for getting better sleep

In addition to daily rest and relaxation, it's recommended that adults get seven to eight hours of sleep each night, but quality is just as important as quantity. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is the most restorative of the five sleep cycles. At least one-quarter of your sleep should be spent in the REM cycle.

How can you ensure that you get enough quality sleep each night? Here are a few tips.

Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening.

Stick to a consistent sleep schedule, even on the weekends.

Set your thermostat between 60 and 70 degrees at night.

Avoid napping during the day.

At least one hour before bed, swap screen time for a relaxing activity such as reading, bedtime yoga or a relaxing bath.

Exercise is important, but avoid working out late in the day, if possible.

If you are struggling to get enough sleep or not feeling rested throughout the day, you may be a good candidate for a sleep study at INTEGRIS Health Sleep Disorders Center of Oklahoma. However, anyone and everyone can benefit from simply taking time to rest and relax during your daily routine. For more healthy living tips, visit our On Your Health blog.

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Why It's Important to Allow Yourself to Rest

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April is National Mental Health Awareness Month. With the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic weighing on people over the last year, it's more important than ever to advocate for mental health resources and daily routines that promote physical, mental and emotional well-being.

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Black feminist author and a part of the Civil Rights Movement.

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Britannica Explores

Meet extraordinary women who dared to bring gender equality and other issues to the forefront. From overcoming oppression, to breaking rules, to reimagining the world or waging a rebellion, these women of history have a story to tell.

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Toni Cade Bambara | American author and civil-rights activist

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Toni Cade Bambara, American writer, civil-rights activist, and teacher who wrote about the concerns of the African-American community. Reared by her mother in Harlem, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Queens, N.Y., Bambara (a surname she adopted in 1970) was educated at Queens College (B.A., 1959). In 1961

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A competitive synchro team committed to Black Liberation, equity in aquatic sports, body positivity in athleticism, and queer visibility.

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past

In 2014, Signe Harriday was in Cleveland watching the Gay Games, and was inspired to give it a try. After some convincing – and realizing that the next Gay Games were in Paris – she and friend Suzy Messerole started perusing the Games’ website for a potential sport, and so the Subversive Sirens synchronized swimming team was born.

The duo picked synchronized swimming because they each had at least some background in the sport –  rather the water. They quickly realized that it was harder than it appeared, and went to the Northern Pikes – a masters synchro team – for help. Harriday and Messerole started practicing and posting videos of their progress, and attracting other members.

In their debut at the 2018 Gay Games, the Sirens won a gold medal for their free combo routine as a full team, and Harriday and Messerole won a silver medal for their duet performance. Their routine for the 2019 IGLA Championships in New York City honored transgender activist Sylvia Rivera and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. They again won gold for their free combo, and Harriday and Messerole won silver for their duet.

present

The team now has six full-time members; a competitive synchro team committed to Black Liberation, equity in aquatic sports, body positivity in athleticism, and queer visibility. The growth of the team from two to five to six members allowed for more rigorous practices and clarity of language and praxis around their values. Liberation is at the heart of everything they do, and the team works to spread their message in the water, their activism, and through social media.

As well as training and competing, the Sirens are a team on a mission to spread the joy of synchronized swimming as a liberation practice. They host  Splashes to invite community members to try synchro with the team in a welcoming environment, and they continually try to create opportunities for everyone to engage with and experience synchro in this healing way.

future

We continue to host community events in and out of the pool.

Our next major competition is the 2021 IGLA (International LGBTQ+ Aquatics) Championships in Utah.

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In 2014, Signe Harriday was in Cleveland watching the Gay Games, and was inspired to give it a try. After some convincing - and realizing that the next Gay Games were in Paris - she and friend Suzy Messerole started perusing the Games' website for a potential sport, and so the Subversive Sirens synchronized swimming team was born.

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Canadian lobster fisherman co-founded the Campobello Whale Rescue Team

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Joe Howlett, co-founder of the Campobello Whale Rescue Team, was killed in an operation to free a trapped whale off the coast of New Brunswick on July 12. (Video: International Fund for Animal Welfare)

Joe Howlett was no stranger to the risky work of rescuing whales.

More than 15 years ago, the Canadian lobster fisherman co-founded the Campobello Whale Rescue Team, an " intrepid group of fishermen who care so much about whales that they are willing to risk their lives to save them."

From their base on Campobello Island, just across the border from Maine, the group's volunteer members would respond to dozens of reports of whales entangled in fishing gear off the coast of New Brunswick. Although the giant marine animals could be unpredictable when trapped, for Howlett, setting a whale free was worth the painstaking, dangerous work, friends said.

"This is something he loved and there's no better feeling than getting a whale untangled," Mackie Greene, the captain of the whale rescue group, told the Canadian Press.

However, tragedy struck Monday when Howlett was killed in an operation to free a trapped North Atlantic right whale off the coast of New Brunswick, according to a statement by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. He had been on a "fast response vessel" belonging to the Canadian agency at the time of the incident with several others, the department said.

Scientists alarmed by 6 right whales' deaths in Canada

"We have lost an irreplaceable member of the whale rescue community," Dominic LeBlanc, minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said in a statement. "His expertise and dedication will be greatly missed."

Though the department did not detail how Howlett was killed, LeBlanc noted that "there are serious risks involved with any disentanglement attempt" and praised those who responded to the emergency for their bravery and passion for marine mammals.

Greene, who was not on the boat during the incident, told the Canadian Press that the team had succeeded in freeing the whale Monday when it somehow struck Howlett.

"They got the whale totally disentangled and then some kind of freak thing happened and the whale made a big flip," Green said. "Joe definitely would not want us to stop because of this."

Jerry Conway, an adviser with the whale-rescue group, told Canadian Broadcasting Corp. News that rescue boats usually retreat as soon as a whale is freed.

"You're dealing with a 70-ton whale that's very upset," he told the news site, adding that this whale "responded in a way that ultimately killed Joe."

Find our latest updates on the recent North Atlantic right whale deaths here: https://t.co/iANzdlhvRm pic.twitter.com/Ldbw0EsFw7
- Fisheries and Oceans (@FishOceansCAN) June 29, 2017

The North Atlantic right whale is protected as an endangered species in Canada and the United States. There are only about 500 of the animals left in the world, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada. North Atlantic right whales can live at least 75 years and grow up to 59 feet long, and migrate between the coasts of Florida and Georgia in winter and Atlantic Canadian waters - especially the Bay of Fundy and southwestern Nova Scotia - in the summer.

So far this summer, seven North Atlantic right whales have been found dead in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, alarming conservationists.

"This situation is very concerning," Fisheries and Oceans Canada said in a statement June 24, after a fifth whale carcass sighting had been confirmed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. "The cause of death is unknown at this time and DFO is committed to finding out what happened to these animals and to protecting this species."

Conservationists are alarmed after seven North Atlantic right whales have been found dead in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near Canada this summer. Research groups are towing whales to shore to conduct necropsies in hopes of finding out more about the recent deaths. (Video: Fisheries and Oceans Canada)

The department, along with the Canadian Coast Guard and other research groups, has gathered samples from the dead whale carcasses and towed some of them to shore to conduct necropsies. The largest threats to the species have been collisions with boats, getting tangled in fishing gear and underwater noise, according to the department.

Despite the mysterious whale deaths, the department had recently cheered the successful rescue of a North Atlantic right whale July 5. Howlett had been part of that operation.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare, which funds the Campobello Whale Rescue Team, mourned Howlett as "a true friend of the animals" who had dedicated countless hours to rescuing whales in the Bay of Fundy and eastern Canada. The group posted YouTube footage of Howlett on a five-hour whale rescue operation from last summer, showing Howlett aboard an orange zodiac boat, being tossed about as he worked with a long pole to free a 6-year-old endangered whale from netting.

The New England Aquarium in Boston also mourned Howlett's loss, describing him as "one of the few certified whale disentanglement experts in Canada."

"His skills as a mariner were surpassed only by the enduring friendships he developed with the researchers who worked with him," the organization said in a statement. "Joe's big heart, affable nature and undeniable love of the sea allowed him to work comfortably in both the fishing and scientific worlds."

"He did it for years, he was good at it and had a lot of successes," Campobello Island Mayor Stephen Smart told Canadian Broadcasting Corp. News of Howlett. "I'm sure for him, I'm sure it was just another day at work."

Smart added that Howlett's death was a "big blow" to the tiny community.

"There's only 850 people here on Campobello Island now and Joe was a very lively character, he had a great sense of humor," Smart told the news site. "Everybody knew Joe Howlett and everybody respected Joe Howlett."
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Canadian fisherman killed after freeing trapped whale

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Placeholder while article actions load Joe Howlett was no stranger to the risky work of rescuing whales. More than 15 years ago, the Canadian lobster fisherman co-founded the Campobello Whale Rescue Team, an " intrepid group of fishermen who care so much about whales that they are willing to risk their lives to save them."