Historical Truth and “truth” Contemporary historians, despite their tenacity and dedication towards unraveling the mysteries of the past, can never truly understand or reconstruct a historical narrative. As close as they come, history elusively slips away. For one, historians clearly lack the lived experiences of those who lived in the past. Historians, likewise, must grapple with the difficult and often incomplete textual source material that survives the test of time. West Africanists, however, often rely on oral tradition in place of written documentation to reformulate the past. However, it would be a monumental mistake to assert that West African cultures lack history simply because they transmit cultural and generational knowledge through …show more content…
Indeed, the griots who tell the story of Sundiata blend history and fiction extensively to metaphorically endow their characters with symbolism that reflects Malinke cultural values. Acceptance of one’s destiny, for example, reveals itself to be a considerably important cultural value based on the epic. After recruiting nine witches to do her bidding, the evil queen mother attempts to manipulate fate, directly contradicting the prophecy that Sundiata would become a king. She openly declared that “his destiny runs counter to my son’s, and he must be killed” Ironically, however, the plan backfires immensely and the witches decide to watch over Sundiata and act as his protectors. Here, we see that attempts to control your own fate—especially in opposition to prophetic declarations—are futile. This imaginative part of the story told by the griot becomes both historical and fictional as Irele described. On one hand, the interaction between the queen mother, the witches, and Sundiata did not factually occur. Yet the Griot still bestows a historical significance within the narrative by using Sundiata and the queen mother to represent the cultural importance of destiny in Malinke culture. Irele acknowledges the notion that storytellers imbue historical …show more content…
American Historian and author Trevor Getz reconstructs the narrative, often by inserting fictional events into the story from his own imagination. These fictionalizations do not just reveal cultural contexts for a predominantly western audience, but artistically and emotionally reimagines the potential lived experience of Abina and other historical actors. The early exchange between James Hutton Brew and Quamina Eddoo, for example, did not actually occur. Yet Getz relies on his own imagination to craft a scene representative of the broader historical period. For example, Brew tells Eddoo that “we have ways of getting around these laws” when asked about the legal technicality of slavery”. Here, Getz’s reimagination introduces the legal and historical conceptions of slavery found in 19th century West Africa. These historically particular understandings of slavery, in fact, are historically accurate. The characters of of Brew and Eddoo, therefore, take on a “larger significance” by representing something historically accurate for a universal time but not for an individual scene. Though the fusion of imagination and history in Abina parallels The Epic of Sundiata, this narrative differs because griots tell their stories to Malinke peoples. Historians studying oral traditions such as these, therefore, are outsiders looking in. Indeed, historians can only extrapolate the
At first glance, Inhuman Traffick: The International Struggle against the Transatlantic Slave Trade bares resemblance to your typical, run of the mill historical textbook. The reader [looking at the cover,] may expect to see ordinary text that would pertain to a standardized African History course. Contrary to the title, the author, Rafe Blaufarb, provides a vivid, contextual look at how slavery spanned out with the use of graphic images and primary sources in a way most authors do not today. Comparatively [to other textbooks,] Inhuman Traffick depicts the development of the raw story of enslavement. From the ships to the whips, it shows concrete details of this haunting era while adding an underlying complexity to the story whilst omitting
Chapter six of “Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora” is entitled “Asserting the Right to Be”. This chapter explores the rebellion of enslaved Africans and their descendants. It stresses that fact resistance against slavery and oppression have been present from the very beginning of the slavery and it has grown and evolved over time. One point in particular that the chapter discusses is the rise in the number of slave revolts in the early 1500’s. Another important topic that is discussed is the fact that people of African descent not only had to fight against slavery but they also had to fight the concept that an african ancestry was a mark of inferiority.
After learning that a man by the name of Quamina Eddoo was declared not guilty of slavery, his young slave Abina Mansah tearfully proclaims that she might as well have kept her story silent; in writing Abina and the Important Men, a gripping graphic history that tells the tale of the court case between Abina and Quamina, author Trevor Getz and illustrator Liz Clarke hope to accomplish just the opposite, by giving a voice to someone who was once silenced (Getz and Clarke 77). To do so effectively, Getz and Clarke employ several historiographical and literary strategies that are evident throughout the work.
Early on, African leaders were able to maintain power over the Europeans and prevented the foreigners from exploring into the interior of Africa. The trial was used to paint Abina as a complainer since there were other young girls who worked for Quamina Eddoo who did not report him or his sister. Another way Abina’s was silenced was the fact that her perspective was not recorded. Even though the court case was documented by an observer in the court, Abina’s personal narrative was not.
In both the transcript and graphic history, Abina was not able to answer Melton’s question of what her ‘your master’ meant (29 and 85). These similarities aid in telling how it was possible for Abina to think she was being enslaved under Quamina Eddoo. In the graphic, James Davis allows Abina to be his “maid” so she can stay on the Cape Coast and “make a little money” (10). In the historical context, it is found that Davis’s attitude and character are “composite of evidence about other young men like him” (109).
One of the major questions asked about the slave trade is ‘how could so Europeans enslave so many millions of Africans?” Many documents exist and show historians what the slave trade was like. We use these stories to piece together what it must have been to be a slave or a slaver. John Barbot told the story of the slave trade from the perspective of a slaver in his “A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea.” Barbot describes the life of African slaves before they entered the slave trade.
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.
In Equiano 's personal slave narrative, The Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Equiano uses distinguishing first person pronouns, thought provoking rhetorical questions, and eye-opening, harsh diction to flip the idea that the African people act backwards and barbaric. Equiano does so by demonstrating his personal exceptionalism through his literacy to show that truly the white people remain backwards and barbaric because of their hypocrisy. The contradiction of the perceptions of white and African people that Equiano demonstrates in his slave narrative shows that the savagery of African people is a misconception. The misconception of the perceptions of the African people makes the reader fully grasp the need to abolish
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 episode entitled “The Buffalo Woman” of Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali begins to delve into several ideas prevalent throughout the entirety of the novel, most notably the concept of destiny and an exploration of its influence on how the events of the story unfold. Other ideas present in this chapter that are of great significance include the supernatural and the virtue of generosity.
Abolitionists in 18th century Britain had to combat many incorrect stereotypes and inappropriate justifications for the enslavement of Africans. To create an effective argument against slavery, writers had to counter these preconceptions in subtle and irrefutable ways. For instance, Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative uses particular language, punctuation, and repetition to explicate his experience, garnering sympathy and disgust for African slaves’ plight, while remaining comprehensible and inoffensive to a white audience. Thus, his subtle rhetorical techniques relate Equiano and Africans to his audience while critiquing their treatment of slavery, accomplishing the seemingly impossible task of proving Africans should not be enslaved.
The autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, first published in 1789, is the first example of a slave narrative. Unlike most of the class, I took it upon myself to read the entire story of Equiano’s Travels, abridged and edited by Paul Edwards. In that version, as in the version represented in The Norton Anthology American Literature Shorter Fifth Edition, the journey of Olaudah Equiano is expressed in his own words, from his own point of view. That makes this writing a truly unique piece of literature. It is not only the first slave narrative but also one of the only ones written pre-civil war by a former slave, and someone seized from Africa. These facts give the writing a unique feel, for it is the words of a man that was born a free man, raised to be a ruler of his tribe, kidnapped and made into a slave as a young child, and then journeying through life to become once again free as a mature adult. Equiano experienced almost all parts of a slave’s existence. He was a slave throughout Africa, England, and the New World.
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.
While the validity of his narrative is to this day widely debated, The interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano provides “insight into the dynamics of slavery, the slave trade, and the abolition movement” Traveling back into the 17th century the reader gets a firsthand experience of a life of a young slave who has opened the worlds eye’ and provides reasonable supportive arguments into the abolition of slavery in the aspects of human acceptance and morality, commerce economy, and the freedom of religion which all he has shared with his white owner counterparts.
"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.