In 1789, no fewer than 100 abolitionist books and pamphlets were published in England, but none was more widely read than the autobiography of the former slave Olaudah Equiano. In his memoir, Equiano relates that he was born in 1745 in Iboland, an area east of the Niger River delta that today is part of Nigeria. He also describes how he was captured and sold into slavery when he was about eleven years old, and having survived the harrowing Atlantic crossing, served three masters, including Michael Henry Pascal, an officer in the British navy; an English sea captain who took him to the West Indian island of Montserrat; and finally Robert King, a Quaker merchant from Philadelphia.In many ways Equiano’s experiences as a slave were exceptional. He never served as a plantation slave, and while owned by Pascal he learned to read and write. Under his three masters he made numerous trips back and forth across the Atlantic and in the process learned skills relating to navigation, bookkeeping, and commerce. Having purchased his freedom from King in 1766, he took up residence in England, where he supported himself as a barber, servant, and crew member on sea voyages to the Mediterranean and around the Atlantic. In the 1770s, he joined the English abolitionist movement, and as a result of the contacts he made with the movement’s leader, in the late 1780s he was given a government post with the responsibility of arranging the transfer of food and other provisions to Sierra Leone, a newly founded colony that abolitionists hoped would serve as an African homeland for freed slaves. Dismissed after a year, Equiano turned to writing his autobiography, which with the financial support of leading abolitionists, was published in 1789. Heavily promoted by Equiano on a lecture tour that took him to dozens of British towns and cities, his book went through eight editions in the 1790s. It is generally acknowledged that it strengthened the abolitionist cause, and must be given at least some of the credit for the act of Parliament in 1807 that abolished the British slave trade.
How factual is Equiano’s narrative? Historians must ask this question of any historical source, especially autobiographies, whose authors cannot be expected to be totally objective when writing about themselves or to be totally accurate in recalling childhood events. Equiano’s memoirs, furthermore, were written with a specific purpose, namely to discredit slavery and garner support for the abolitionist cause. One scholar, Vincent Carretta from the University of Maryland, has recently suggested that Equiano fabricated the account of his kidnapping in Africa and his voyage across the Atlantic on the slave ship. A baptismal certificate and a Royal Navy document, he argues, show that Equiano was actually born in South Carolina, not Africa.
Other scholars reject Carretta’s evidence as inconclusive and continue to believe that Equiano’s memoir is generally accurate. Certainly a comparison of Equiano’s description of his slave experience with what we know from other sources suggests that his work is free of exaggeration and distortion. This includes the excerpt from his autobiography that I would like you to read (you can do so by clicking here) in which he describes his harsh introduction to slavery.
After reading the document, I would like you to think about and discuss the following: On the basis of Equiano’s account, describe the role of Africans in the slave trade. What does Equiano’s account reveal about the effect of slavery and the slave trade on African society? What were the characteristics of slavery that Equiano encountered? Once aboard the slave ship, what in the slaves’ experiences contributed to their despair and demoralization, according to Equiano? What factors might have contributed to the brutal treatment of the slaves by the ship’s crew? Your thoughts…
21 comments:
the role of Africans were just to be slaves. If they had family members, they were separated. There was in fact so much slavery that slaves went from one master to the next in a matter of days. i think that Equanio, however, should have stayed with the woman and her son because he was treated like a family member or adopted kid. But he didn't so we was recaptured and back into the harsh slavery. His other master were not too brutal, but he did go though a lot of hard times.
In my Language arts class, we read Equanio's narrative writing, and it was very descriptive and interesting. It surprised my that he got the opportunity to learn how to read, write, etc. I agree with theresa in saying that the europeans basically make it seem that the only rolde african's was to just be slaves, but at least equanio experienced some owners that were not as brutal as the unlucky.
i'd say that equano got the better of slavery, because he never really had to do work that other slaves had to do, and his master wasn't as bad. his experience on the ship however seemed terible, but he did learn something that he used to explore later in life. on the ship, the crew members let him see a thing ( i forgot what it was called) it had something to do with looking out into the ocean, this encourged him that maybe someday he could be a captain of a ship....but back to slavery for him, his master would let him go work for someone in his free time, and he got paid for it, so that later he bought his freedom from his master....i'd say thats prety lucky for him. unlike many other slaves his master taught him to read and write! im not saying that equano didn't suffer, but just that he didnt get the worst. he was seperated from his sister and family, so that is tragic, how he had to live on the ship.
The Europeans treated the Africans just like they were animals, not caring how they felt or really if they lived or died. I like the last thing Equiano says about treating others like you want to be teated and that he got that quote from Christianity and the Bible that the Europeans brought to Africa! If thats not screwed up I dont know what is.
It seems as though the role of africans was simply to endure. there was nothing they could do about their situation, so they had to sit there and let the crew treat them this way. I'm not entirely sure how accurate equiano's account may be, because though i'm sure he was literate, i'm almost equally as sure that he had help, as any writer does, and some things may have been lost in translation.
Well the Africans basically kidnapped and brought the slaves to the ports and/or markets to be sold. Some of the buyers treated the slaves almost as family but then slaves constantly came across those who thought of them as lower than cattle. When the slaves were transported, the stench below the deck was so bad that it was making the slaves feel sick. It doesnt make since how the sellers want profit but then they make the slaves live in harsh conditions to the point of sickness and mortality. The slaves may be below deck for days at a time without getting any fresh air. The emotions are probably at its peak so it was probably mass chaos to the point of suicide below. The crew probably for once felt superior so they didnt mind there cruelty at all. Anyways they just had no feelings whatsoever for anything and they could only live off of a set amount of food and stuff. Also the risk of mutiny and loosing profit caused them to buckle down and be more strict. They have to make profit in this vicious cycle and thats their method of doing it.
His accounts show that slavery was a wicked thing on this earth. Also he shows that life on a slave ship was extremely hard and cruel. It's disturbing to know what happened on these ships and that hardly anyone tried to stop it.
Equanio explains how most of the slaves were treated like complete dirt by the Europeans. They were torn away from their families just as he was split from his sister and taken while his family wasn't around. The Europeans even had to force feed him because he refused to eat out of depression because of the loss of his sister. He definitely didn't have the worst experience though. Equanio was not required to do much hard labor such as working on plantations. He was more of a house slave. He lucked out when he got landed with the woman and her son. They treated Equanio like he was a part of the family. He was even allowed to eat meals with them which was pretty rare and unusual for slaves and their owners during this time period.
I really hate the fact that humans were just counted as cargos. Also, it seems that author had a peaceful childhood. I guess it was like that for many of the cases. To those who were slaves it really was degrading.
i agree with theresa that africans were only looked at as slaves and to endure pain. Equanio was one of the few literate slaves and he was lucky in that not all his owners were brutal. if there is a lucky slave. he was treated with at least a little respect compared to the others. at the end Equanio says treat others how you want to be treated and that is exactly right. i dont europeans ever really thought of being in the africans place.
Equanio got a better life of slavery. His master was not as cruel as many of the people out there. He was even aloud to learn how to read and write. I can now see though that the europeans just saw the Africans as tools for work and didnt really recognize them as human beings.
It is amazing how vivid the descriptions of Equino's trip was. I was reading this document with my brother. He told me that he was surprised, but was being taught relatively close to what your teaching. He definitly wants to be in your class. While i was reading the document, i was thinking of how could Europeans do what they did? Have they no heart. I'm European, and i definitly wouldnt do that. At least they didn't treat white traitors diferently. He said that they killed the white traitor. But the living conditions described was really disturbing. How can you put people in an environment like that. I am a little outragged.
ahh! The last line was perfect. People were/are so cruel! if they beat them to death so much and hated them on board the ships why didn't they find something else to trade? I guess because it was profitable and that they only killed as little as they could for an example for behavior and $. since the buyer's Barbadoes were so eager, I guess they paid a good price for the slaves.
agh! and how could the Africans who were stealing them not have hearts enough to take children from their home then separate two crying chidren from the only thing giving them comfort! at least there were a few nice people who bought him. and then sold him again for $. agh!
Arghhhhhhhhhhh. this one didnt come up either!! :[
I feel so bad for Equiano. His entire life was to "settle down" and then all of a sudden some random people take him away. But Equiano didn't seem to suffer as much as the other slaves. His trip through the ocean was so disgusting and descriptive. The people were treated no better than animals. Equiano was treated a little better because he was just a child, but he faced so many hardships that it's hard to say that.
Toward the beginning, Equiano was fortunate to have some good owners. He was actually treated with respect and was part of the family. At one point he even said that he forgot he was a slave. But after he was captured several of times, he was forced onto a slave ship and the nightmare began. He described the terrible stench that made him not want to eat and burned his nostrils. Then he went on to describe the closeness of the people and the lack of food. He also described the harshness of the sailors and the constant thoughts of death.
When Equiano was kidnapped or sold, it seemed that they weren't to harsh on him because the kidnappers carried him on their back.
Factors that might have contributed to the treatmeant of the slaves on the ship is fear. The crew was afraid to have all the slaves jumping off the ships and starving themselves to death so they had to punish them, and set an example.
In the scheme of things, they were just cargo, like work animals in the Europeans opinion. I do think the captors would care if they lived or died, because it would mean a loss of money for them. The treatment of the slaves on the ship was rule by fear. They would beat whoever survived the suicide to dissuade the rest from attempting it, which was probably a bad thing in the long run, because there was a large possibility of death, so the slaves welcomed it.
Im pretty sure we read about the story of Equiano in our language arts class. Lucky for him, he had the opportunity to learn how to read and write. Also his earlier encounters with his slave masters werent so bad. In the document it stated that the rich woman and her son would allow Equiano to eat at the table with them and that her son wouldnt eat until Equiano ate first just because he was older. Unfortunately, things werent all good. (not saying that slavery was good or anything, just saying his treatment was better)The description of the slave ship was pretty depressing. The punishments and the treatments were just brutal
Equaino was one of the few who knew how to read and write. He told of the slave hunters, how they captured the weak children like a couple of wild animals. Especially when their guardians were away. They didn't care for the happiness of comfort, but their goal, money. Slaves was the easiest way to go with. Equiano, though his story sounds sad, there are probably a huge number of worse cases where, families were separated and sometimes killed to fail to cooperate.
Equanio's story shows the cruelity of Humans just to get their hands on some money. But what is the price? Making slaves want to kill themselves but can't because they are too scared that if they fail they will get beat and are chained down? Tearing families apart? Kidnapping young to trade as if they were cattle? Though some of his masters were not that mean he did go through tough times as a slave.
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