History, the Concatenation of Human Experiences
In June 1961, I left Berlin, Germany, with my parents, my sister, and my Swedish cousin enroute to Sweden for what was to be two weeks of Scandinavian fun. The Russian soldiers who processed us through the checkpoints were impeccably dressed in jodhpurs and the shiniest black riding boots I had ever seen. It was obvious they had been carefully selected for this job, which entailed a goodly measure of public relations; the Communists displayed only their best. The soldiers were not only good looking and efficient, processing our papers quickly; on that day they were noticeably relaxed, with genuine smiles on their faces. A week earlier than planned, my family returned to Berlin, driving through the same checkpoints. This time the atmosphere was tense. There were no smiles. Passports and other papers were scrutinized slowly, creating long delays, much to our discomfort.
What had caused the change? An event that will be taught in history classes for hundreds of years. An event that even a thousand years from now will be at least a footnote in the history books. The East Germans had erected a wall, dividing one of the world’s most famous cities in two. Barbara Tuchman would argue—correctly, I think—that it is too soon to write the history of the Berlin Crisis. This contemporary generation, born and raised in the tensions of the Cold War, will record the facts and write the narrative, but we are too close to have a good perspective on it (Tuchman 27-28). For the interpretation of those facts, we will have to wait for the generation now being born, a generation which will have few, if any, emotional attachments to the event and therefore be better able to analyze it with some objectivity—or ignorance, as Edward H. Carr would call it (9). This is how history is written. It is a process—a recording of facts and later an interpreting of those facts to relate them to the future generations.
The question, of course, is what history our descendants will write. Human beings are by nature egocentric. In the West we assume future historians will see the crisis as we do. The wall was not constructed for noble reasons; it was a manifestation of the evil empire, was it not?
First published in 1789, Volume I focuses on Equiano’s short time in Africa followed by his treacherous journey as a slave. He begins the narrative with an in depth description of his homeland of Nigeria, speaking of their food, clothes, and religious views. He then recounts the events following his kidnapping, as well as the treacherous expedition from Africa to the West Indies known as the Middle Passage. Once in the West Indies, Equiano saw firsthand the selling of his countrymen. While there, he was not purchased, so Equiano was taken to Virginia, where he labored in the fields of a plantation. Not long after arriving in Virginia, Equiano was sold to Henry Pascal, a lieutenant in the British navy. After purchasing Equiano, Pascal returned to England. During their journey, Pascal renamed Equiano Gustavus Vassa. Once in England, Equiano began to go to church with his new friend Robert Baker, who began to teach him to read and write. Pascal later sent Equiano to work for his sisters, the Guerins. The Guerins promoted his education and Christianity, and eventually, the sisters convinced Pascal to permit Equiano to be baptized. Eqiano was extremely loyal to Pascal, but after a few years the slave was sold to James Doran. Equiano was astonished th...
The novel The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano exists as an extremely important work in the abolitionist movement in England. As an 18th century narrative written by a former black slave the novel provides a glimpse into the lives of the African slaves involved in the slave trade as well as the slave traders themselves. Even with the controversy over the authenticity of Equiano’s claims on his origin in Africa and his subsequent voyage through the Middle Passage, this novel serves as a powerfully instructive piece of literature. Throughout the novel Equiano strives to impress upon the reader a certain set of moral standards or ideals that he desires to instruct the reader about. One such moral ideal that is prevalent throughout the entirety of the novel is Equiano’s construction of the idea of the value and worth of the African slaves, as opposed to the view of the African slaves as simply commodities or objects to be purchased and traded. Equiano argues and presses the reader and his audience to recognize that the African slave and the white slave owner are not as different as his audience may believe. In order to proclaim and showcase this idea of the value and worth of African slaves, Equiano uses the Christian religion to develop and sustain his argument. In many cases during Equiano’s time period, and for a while afterwards, Christianity and the Bible were used in defense of slavery, and this fact makes Equiano’s claim more powerful and groundbreaking. One of the key attributes of the novel is Equiano’s spiritual conversion and religious revelations. I believe that Equiano’s Christianity serves to connect him with his audience, increases his credibility as an author, and ultimately proclaims the disparity ...
Olaudah Equiano was a freed slave living in London who made it his life person to abolish the British slave trade. His knowledge and training of the English language allowed him to grow into one of the key figures in the movement to abolish the slave trade in England. Although many scholars acknowledge his incredible talent, there has been evidence in the recent years that may question his reliability as a first-hand account. There is evidence to support that Equiano may have been born in South Carolina. This evidence does not make him a valid source of information about the slave trade and leads his audience to question his statements.
The book, TRIANGLE The Fire that Changed America, written by David Von Drehle, is set in New York City primarily in the tenements of the Lower East Side and in Greenwich Village. The story provides a detailed account of life as an immigrant during the early 1900s, the garment workers strikes, the corrupt political structure of the time, several eye witness accounts of the blaze that killed 146, the missing safety procedures that could have saved them, the trial that attempted to bring the owners to justice and finally the political change and work force standards that came about as a result of the tragic event.
The slave trade, yet horrific in it’s inhumanity, became an important aspect of the world’s economy during the eighteenth century. During a time when thousands of Africans were being traded for currency, Olaudah Equiano became one of countless children kidnapped and sold on the black market as a slave. Slavery existed centuries before the birth of Equiano (1745), but strengthened drastically due to an increasing demand for labor in the developing western hemisphere, especially in the Caribbean and Carolinas. Through illogical justification, slave trading became a powerful facet of commerce, regardless of its deliberate mistreatment of human beings by other human beings. Olaudah Equiano was able to overcome this intense adversity and actually accumulate wealth by making the best of certain situations he faced throughout his experiences. Even though he was a victim of the slave trade, he willfully took advantage of the opportunity to see the world and to become a productive individual.
It has been suggested that Olaudah Equiano lied about his birthplace in his The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African. The question of Olaudah Equiano’s birth place, whether it be modern day Nigeria or South Carolina, has little effect on the historical significance of his “autobiography.” In this essay I will discuss the reasons scholars are questioning the authenticity of his works, the affect his work played in the slave trade, and the impact this accusation has on his life’s work.
...eas about the other to discredit claims to the land and present themselves as better caretakers before potential decision-makers.
On Sunday, August 13th, in 1962 the Eastern German government began construction of the Berlin Wall (“Berlin Wall”). The Berlin Wall was built to divide the post World War II communist ran East Germany with the democratic West Germany. On that day families in Berlin were awaken to military machinery, barbed wire coils, and armed guards. The families that had crossed the newly made border the night before to visit friends and/or family were greeted to a wall and closed transit systems (“Berlin Wall”). For them this meant they were no longer going to be able to go home and be with their family however long this division of the country would last. As the day went on some government officials in East Germany feared that the citizens would start an uprising. However, contrary to their fears the streets of East Berlin stayed eerily quiet. Almost thirty years after that day the wall still separated friends and family only miles away. The wall was a physical division between the two superpowers of the time: the East controlled by the communist regime in the Soviet ...
The end of World War II was the beginning of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Soviet Union had control over East Berlin, which was governed by a communist government and the United States had control over West Berlin, which was regulated by a democratic government. Both countries wanted full control over Berlin, so the Soviet Union set up a blockade on the West but was unsuccessful. The Berlin Wall was then built to stabilize the economy of East Berlin, which meant that fewer people could escape the east to live in the west. In the article “The fall of the Berlin Wall: what it meant to be there,” by Timothy Garton Ash, he highlights the feelings of no longer having a “iron curtain” segregating both sides of Berlin.
The novel Triangle: The Fire That Changed America by David Von Drehle is a novel that brought worldwide recognition of what terrible events that occurred on March 25th 1911. Von Drehle is a well-known American author and a journalist. With a bachelor degree from the University of Denver, and earning his masters in literature from Oxford University. He worked in many newspapers such as the Denver post, the Washington post, and the Times. Therefore, publishing many pieces which he received an award for such as Among the lowest of the dead: inside death row, Deadlock: the indie story of Americas closest election, and Rise to greatness: Abraham Lincoln and Americas most perilous year. The novel Triangle is about a shirtwaist factory fire that occurred on March 25th, 1911. It was a deadly fire that happened in the New York triangle factory that killed approximately 146 workers. This tragedy is well remembered in American industrial history, because the deaths could have been prevented. Most of the victims were burned alive or jumped to their death, because the factory did not have the proper safety equipment and the doors being locked within the building. This tragedy brought attention to the dangerous working conditions that the victims endured in the sweatshop factories. Which therefore led to new laws
In, conclusion the experiences of Equiano’s servitude in Africa differed from his experience in England. The African slave trade primarily was based upon providing jobs to families or punishment to real criminals. Many times the cruel example of being kidnapped from your village and forced into this way of life was also prevalent. This narrative contains the terrifying events of a young a child being held captive. The sources we have of the truth from this period of time are limited and hard to obtain. Servitude still exists to today in many parts of Africa and will remain a common part of their
"The Life of Olaudah Equiano” is a captivating story in which Equiano, the author, reflects on his life from becoming a slave to a freeman during the 19th century. Through his experiences and writing, Equiano paints a vivid picture of the atrocities and cruelties of European slavery. Ultimately through his narrative, Equiano intends to persuade his audience, the British government, to abolish the Atlantic slave trade as well as alert them of the harsh treatment of slaves. He successfully accomplishes his goal by subtly making arguments through the use of character, action, and setting.
Don John is the illegitimate half brother of Don Pedro in the play. Don Pedro is the Prince of Aragon and is highly respected throughout the play, whereas Don John is treated with cautious attention and indifference. In Act one scene three, Leonato greets Don Pedro rather enthusiastically and respectfully,
“Success doesn’t happen overnight.” Apparently, the Germans did not get that memo. On the morning of August 13, 1961 police and soldiers in the city’s Soviet sector began temporarily crowding streets and fortifying alleyways with trucks, tanks, bricks, and barbed wire. In addition, the asphalt and cobblestones on the linking roads were torn up. Perplexed residents observed in distress as their own c...
The author, Fredrick Taylor did an outstanding job of collecting official history, archives and personal accounts that tell the complete story of the rise and fall of The Wall. Taylor sets the scene with the defeat of the Nazis in 1945. The Soviets occupying the east of Berlin, and American, French and British forces in the west, Berlin was suddenly the embodiment of the post-war world’s great divide. Before long, thousands of young East Berliners were crossing the open border to take up better education and employment opportunities in West Germany. The leader of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Walter Ulbricht noticed this and turned to Moscow for help. By 1961, two million East Germans had deserted their country and radical action was required. Then officially on the morning August 13th, 1961, the first barbed wire and then concrete barriers appeared, prompting a wave of desperate escape attempts. Taylor does a great job of narrating the desperate bids for freedom. The desperation of people and the things that they did were shocking. Some swam through the icy waters of the river Spree, some went through sewer pipes, and some were crazy enough to try going through the frontier with fo...