It is amazing that modern day people have such simplistic views of slavery. Most people captured as slaves were actually prisoners of war. In different regions there were empires that collapsed under the weight of civil wars caused by internal succession issues or the constant warfare that occurred due to defending against invaders. So there was no one size fit all for slavery, because there were societies that were firmly against it; either because they didn't trust the Europeans or because they saw the devastation that constant warfare was causing.
So it is not as simple as people think, because just like people became slaves there were people that died in Africa defending their families, communities and Kingdoms against invaders. Cudjoe's story gives you a glimpse of how hard his village fought against the invaders from Dahomey and how many of his family members died by being beheaded fighting against slave catchers that raided their village.