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Racial discrimination and its effect
Discrimination and its impacts in society
Discrimination and its impacts in society
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Equiano, the slave capitalist
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.
During the 17th century the self-appointed superior white explorers had seen a profitable opportunity to show off their superiority by ripping away young Africans from their families and selling them into slavery solely based on their inferior seeming dark skin tone. Unjustly, based on no evidence at all, Africans such as Equiano were seen as uncivilized, barbaric, and un-human by the wealthy Europeans. Equiano in his narrative is persuading his readers to remove any injustice and discrimination against Africans that is based solely on skin color. Just because the Africans were simply unaware of European society and un aware of other cultures. The Europeans should remember that their own ancestors were once "uncivilized, and even barbarous."(insert citation). It is a common misconception that white skin tone is seen as superior, but that is far from true, the changes of our skin tone is a product of our surroundings, from Darwin’s evolutionary ideologies we can draw the conclusion that if ones ancestors trace back to hot tropical climates, their skin will be a darker tone in order to absorb more of the suns pressure that is put on ...
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...help boost worldwide economy while promising a virtually unlimited growth and prosperity, if the British viewed Africa as a commerce partner instead of a source of free labor. A commercial relationship with Africa would open up doors to immense wealth opportunities for the much more industrialized Britain. As an always expanding market for textiles and other hand made goods, treated as human beings of equal worth, would become much valuable customers and many local goods could be exchanged. Additionally the African land is fruitful in mineral and resource wealth of the African continent offered vast opportunity to the more advanced economies. "The hidden treasures of centuries" would be available for European exploitation. "The manufacturing interest and the general interest are synonymous, The abolition of slavery would be in reality an universal good." (Citation)
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 between the views of the slaves’ worth as merely economical, and the assumed Christian morality of the slave traders and his audience....
The fight for racial equality is one of the most prominent issues Americans have faced throughout history and even today; as the idea that enslaving individuals is unethical emerged, many great and innovative authors began writing about the issues that enslaved people had to face. Olaudah Equiano was no exception. In his work The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, he attempts to persuade his readers that the American way of slavery is brutal, inhumane, and unscrupulous. Equiano manages to do this by minimizing the apparent differences between himself and his primarily white audience, mentioning the cruelties that he and many other slaves had to face, and the advantages of treating your slaves correctly.
Equiano finally gains his liberty and begins to develop his character as he converts his religion and becomes a faithful man. Equiano immerses himself and is allowed to blend into Western society. Works Cited Equiano, Olaudah. [1789] 1987. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African.
In the first segment of his film series, Different but Equal, Basil Davidson sets out to disprove the fictitious and degrading assumptions about African civilization made by various Western scholars and explorers. Whether it is the notion that Africans are “savage and crude in nature” or the presumed inability of Africans to advance technologically, these stereotypes are damaging to the image and history of Africa. Although European Renaissance art depicts the races of white and black in equal dignity, there was a drastic shift of European attitudes toward Africa that placed Africans in a much lower standing than people of any other culture. The continent of Africa quickly became ravished by the inhuman slave trade and any traditional civilization
For example, when Equiano asserts “As if it were no crime in the whites to rob an innocent African girl of her virtue; but most heinous in a black man only to gratify a passion of nature, where the temptation was offered by one of a different color, though the most abandoned woman of her species (754),” he wishes to show the hypocrisy in the treatment of black men in comparison to white men. Invoking an emotional connection is an important element in literature, but especially during the Enlightenment. Illustrating that both blacks and whites share the common bond of humanity, helps makes Equiano’s narrative easier to digest. While some may criticize Equiano’s narrative for its accessibility, it fits with the theme of the
Racial adversity has proven very difficult to overcome, even in today’s society. Olaudah Equiano used his economic intelligence to provide him with the power to accumulate wealth and buy his freedom. Equiano knew he was dealt an uneasy hand of cards at life, but he played them as skillfully and intelligently as he could, with bare instincts. He took advantage of the situations that he was forced into and was able to win his hand at the game of slavery, for he found a way to manipulate the system that opposed him, and used it to his advantage.
The narrative of Olaudah Equiano is truly a magnificent one. Not only does the reader get to see the world through Equiano's own personal experiences, we get to read a major autobiography that combined the form of a slave narrative with that of a spiritual conversion autobiography. Religion may be viewed as at the heart of the matter in Equiano's long, remarkable journey. Through Equiano's own experiences, the reader uncovers just how massive a role religion played in the part of his Narrative and in that of his own life. More specifically, we learn of how his religious conversion meant a type of freedom as momentous as his own independence from slavery. As one reads his tale, one learns just how dedicated he his to that of his Christian faith; from his constant narration of the scriptures to the way that Equiano feels a growing sense of empowerment from the biblical texts for the oppressed community. However, at the same time, one may question Equiano's own Christian piety. Did Equiano really seek to tell the tale of his soul's spiritual journey, did he really believe God would set him free or was he simply using religion as a ways of manipulating British and American readers to accept him as a credible narrator. Regardless of which of these facts is true, religion is quite possibly the defining feature of his life story.
The first chapter focuses on the first impressions between the people of different color also the reasons Africans had evolved or changed into what they now appeared to be. The section on causes of complexion was both fascinating and entertaining. Many of the theories were of the wall and far fetched. One such opinion of how Africans gained their complexion that the book gave includes an ancient Greek myth of Phaeton. This character drove a chariot into the heavens and thus altered in his appearance (p11). Though this Greek myth, probably not the truth of how Africans gained their color many did believe it probably had something to do with the sun. The theory of equatorial dwellers of Africa, this being the reason for the skin pigmentation, became illogical once Africans were compared to the Indians living in the hottest parts of the New World (p14). Some believed that the African was merely dark because they had left their colder northern climate. Experiments quickly ruled this out as a possible answer (p15). The most far-fetched and humorous theory came through the biblical illustration involving Noah. Many believed it the curse given upon Noah’s son Ham for “looking upon his father’s nakedness” (p17). Each of these contrasting views on color needed to be used in this book. For no better reason in that it showed from an initial point that the English viewed the color of the Africans as a plague. Instead of excepting that Africans may in fact be different, the English consistently made attempts to explain the dif...
Africa is a land of riches like no other, so as expected, European countries would have some sort of desire to conquer properties in whatever way they did. As stated in African Colonies and their Exports Chart, countless of natural resources are found in different areas in Africa. Not only does the data show plenty of resources, but also a variety (Doc D). This confirms that Africa is a wealthy land that Europeans grew fond of and hoped to take over. Specified in Imports and Exports Graph, following the 1900’s, after the conference to divide up Africa was held, Britain decided to use Africa’s natural resources and specialize in many industries. The imports doubled from 4 million pounds, while the exports boosted from 2.5 million all the way to 21 million pounds (Doc. E). With this lucrative increase in trading and selling, it is fair to conclude that not only were resources a factor of beginning imperialism in Africa, but also a successful result.
Olaudah Equiano in his Interesting Narrative is taken from his African home and thrown into a Western world completely foreign to him. Equiano is a slave for a total of ten years and endeavors to take on certain traits and customs of Western thinking. He takes great pains to improve himself, learn religion, and adopt Western mercantilism. However, Equiano holds on to a great deal of his African heritage. Throughout the narrative, the author keeps his African innocence and purity of intent; two qualities he finds sorely lacking in the Europeans. This compromise leaves him in a volatile middle ground between his adapted West and his native Africa. Olaudah Equiano takes on Western ideals while keeping several of his African values; this makes him a man associated with two cultures but a member of neither.
Slavery was a practice throughout the American colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, and through slavery, African-American slaves helped build the economic foundation of which America stands upon today, but this development only occurred with the sacrifice of the blood, sweat, and tears from the slaves that had been pushed into exhaustion by the slave masters. A narrative noting a lifetime of this history was the book The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African written by Olaudah Equiano. Equiano was a prominent African involved in the British movement for the abolition of the slave trade. He was captured and enslaved as a child in his home town of Essaka in what is now known as south eastern Nigeria, later he was shipped to the West Indies, he then moved to England, and eventually purchased his freedom (Equiano). Olaudah Equiano, with many other millions of slaves, faced many hardships and was treated with inconceivable injustices by white slave masters and because of the severity of these cruel and barbarous occurrences, history will never forget these events.
Although he was a slave, he was able to read and write; very few slaves were educated, and sometimes even white men were illiterate. Equiano’s academic abilities show that he was a smart and respected slave, giving his words and thoughts more authority and, therefore, making them easier for the reader to believe. Had this document been the words of an uneducated slave, the reader would be warier to believe the events described; but, since Equiano wrote this first-hand experience himself, it is easier to believe that the events are real and accurate. Because of his education, Equiano’s ideas hold value and aren’t just emotionally driven accusations made by an angry, uneducated slave. His ideas are wise and thought out, and even though they may have hints of emotion and opinion threaded into them, the events and ideas presented in this document are
"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.
According to Equiano’s narrative, his knowledge of white men or Europeans is unheard of prior to him being enslaved. When Equiano spoke of his people, he spoke of them with immense pride, dignity, and respect. He considers even their slaves to be healthy, hearty, intelligent, zealous and without deformity. However, he states “I remember while in Africa to have seen three negro children, who were tawny, and another quite white, who were universally regarded…as deformed”. Because of the fair complexion of their skin (white), he viewed them as deformed.
The Europeans saw Africa as being a great place to obtain all types of resources, from labor to natural materials. Items such as cotton, coal, rubber, copper, tin, gold, and other metals were considered very valuable and readily available in Africa (Nardo). The industrial revolution had already become a strong influence on the countries that attended the Conference. They had spent the past 400 years gathering slaves from Africa that provided cheap labor for them. ....