The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. It was the middle leg of a three-part voyage that began in Europe, continued to Africas "slave coast," and ended in the Americas. The Middle Passage itself lasted roughly 80 days on ships ranging from small schooners to massive, purpose-built "slave ships". During this voyage, enslaved people were packed together on or below decks without space to sit up or move around, and without ventilation or sufficient water. About 15% of them grew sick and died, and many were thrown overboard, leading to the death of millions of Africans.

The Middle Passage was a time of physical and emotional anguish for the uprooted Africans, who were ripped away from their families, homelands, social positions, and languages. They were treated as commodities and subjected to brutal conditions, including whippings, beatings, and rape. The total number of deaths directly attributable to the Middle Passage voyage is estimated at up to two million, and a broader look at African deaths directly attributable to the institution of slavery from 1500 to 1900 suggests up to four million deaths.

Despite the horrors of the Middle Passage, some individuals resisted the only way they could, through starvation and suicide. Others forged bonds of kinship, creating forced transatlantic communities. The Middle Passage supplied the New World with its major workforce and brought enormous profits to international slave traders. Slavery itself flourished in the United States until the American Civil War, becoming the defining issue of national political life. Slavery in the South and second-class citizenship in the North became legacies of a history that began with the Middle Passage.