What is the theme in Slave Ship by Amiri Baraka?

Black nationalism is a theme in the book. Slave Ship was first produced during Baraka's literary and political phase of black nationalist sentiment. The play expresses a black nationalist perspective through the interlocking thematic concerns of African-American history, African-American community, and African-American identity. A strong sense of African-American communal identity is expressed through the play's representation of the seminal experience of African Americans—the "Middle Passage" to America via "slave ships," enforced accommodation to the oppressive conditions of slavery, whether through "Uncle Tomism" or attempted revolt, and contemporary struggles for racial equality.