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. John Barbot describes how many Africans would kidnap and trade their countrymen to Europeans. “Those sold by the Blacks are for the most part prisoners of war… others stolen away by their own countrymen; and some there are, who will sell their …show more content…
own children, kindred, or neighbors.” “The kings are so absolute, that upon any slight pretense of offenses committed by their subjects, they order them to be sold for slaves, without regard to rank, or possession.” “In times of dearth and famine, abundance of those people will sell themselves, for a maintenance, and to prevent starving.” (Barbot) Other authors have described how Africans are kidnapped and sold as well. Alexander Falconbridge, a surgeon aboard several slave galleys during the 1780s, described his experience in his An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa. “There is great reason to believe, that most of the negroes shipped off from the coast of Africa, are kidnapped.” (Falconbridge) Barbot described the life of Africans prior to enslavement; “…some slaves are also brought to these Blacks, from very remote inland countries, by way of trade, and sold for things of very inconsiderable value; but these slaves are generally poor weak, by reason of the barbarous usage they have had in traveling so far, being continually beaten, and almost famish’d; so inhuman are the Blacks to one another.” “These slaves are severely and barbarously treated by their masters, who subsist them poorly, and beat them inhumanly, as may be seen by the scabs and wounds of many of them sold to us. They scarce allow them the least rag to cover their nakedness.” “...And when dead, they never bury them, but cast out the bodies into some by place, to be devoured by birds, or beasts of prey.” (Barbot) Barbot proceeds to depict how African slaves were then taken to buildings to be kept for trade.
“As slaves come down to Fida from the inland country, they are put into a booth, or prison, …. being all stark naked… each of the others, which have passed as good, is marked on the breast, with a red-hot iron, imprinting the mark of the French, English, or Dutch companies.” There are few things as brutal as the history of the institution of slavery. In his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African, the aforementioned Olaudah Equiano describes the experience of his entrance into slavery. Olaudah tells the story of slavery from a different perspective; “Their complexions too differing so much from ours, their long hair, and the language they spoke, (which was very different from any I had ever heard) united to confirm me in this belief. Indeed such were the horrors of my views and fears at the moment, that, if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I would have freely parted with them all to have exchanged my condition with that of the meanest slave in my own country.” “I asked them if we were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces, and loose hair. They told me I was not.” …show more content…
(Equiano) “I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native country, or even the least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore, which I now considered as friendly; and I even wished for my former slavery in preference to my present situation, which was filled with horrors of every kind, still heightened by my ignorance of what I was to undergo.” (Equiano) These two authors also include their point of view on the subject of feeding the slaves. Barbot tells of how slaves “refuse all sustenance, tho’ never so much compelled and even beaten to oblige them to take some nourishment: notwithstanding all which, they will starve to death.”” And tho’ I must say I am naturally compassionate, yet have I been necessitated sometimes to cause the teeth of those wretches to be broken, because they would not open their mouths, or be prevailed upon by any entreaties to feed themselves; and thus are forced some sustenance into their throats…” (Barbot) Equiano speaks of a different experience “I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste any thing. I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatables; and, on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across I think the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely. I had never experienced any thing of this kind before.” (Equiano) While these descriptions differ greatly, they do a good job in detailing the sheer brutality of the slave trade.
Barbot seems to view his role in the trade as almost savior-esque. He seems to have believed that white slavers were saving Black Africans from themselves and giving them a way to find spiritual saving in Christianity. He wrote, “The barbarous usage of those unfortunate wretches, makes it appear, that the fate of such as are brought and transported from the Coast, or other parts of the world, by Europeans, is less deplorable, than that of those who end their days in their native country; for aboard ships all possible care is taken to preserve and subsist them for the interest of the owners.” “Not to mention the inestimable advantage they may reap, of becoming christians, and saving their souls, if they make true use of their condition….”
(Barbot) As stated above, Equiano preferred being enslaved by Africans than by their European counterparts. This preference seemed to have been shared by many of the slaves. “One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together (I was near them at the time), preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the nettings and jumped into the sea: immediately another quite dejected fellow, who, on account of his illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same if they had not been prevented by the ship's crew, who were instantly alarmed.” (Equiano) It is clear from these sources that the life of an African slave was a brutal one before and during their encounter with the European Slave Trade. Many of these people were kidnapped and sold by their countrymen whom treated them harshly and kept them like livestock. Many Europeans thought themselves to be saving the slaves because they would be forced to labor but it would be under the guise of Christianity. Slaves were terribly mistreated and tortured so much so that many decided that to die would be a better fate than to be enslaved. The fact of the matter is that no matter how you look at it, no matter whose perspective you are reading, the European Slave Trade destroyed lives and destabilized civilizations.
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
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
Olaudah Equiano (Gustavus Vassa) was kidnapped from his African village at the age of eleven, shipped through the arduous "Middle Passage" of the Atlantic Ocean, seasoned in the West Indies and sold to a Virginia planter. He was later bought by a British naval Officer, Captain Pascal, as a present for his cousins in London. After ten years of enslavement throughout the North American continent, where he assisted his merchant slave master and worked as a seaman, Equiano bought his freedom. At the age of forty four he wrote and published his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African. Written by Himself, which he registered at Stationer's Hall, London, in 1789. More than two centuries later, this work is recognized not only as one of the first works written in English by a former slave, but perhaps more important as the paradigm of the slave narrative, a new literary genre.
Mutilating the whites and leaving their bodies lying is inhumane. It is such a shocking story! This book was meant to teach the reader about the inhumanity of slavery. It also gives us the image of what happened during the past years when slavery was practised. The book is significant in the sense that it gives even the current generation the knowledge of slavery, how it happened and the reason for slavery.
Slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries consisted of brutal and completely unjust treatment of African-Americans. Africans were pulled from their families and forced to work for cruel masters under horrendous conditions, oceans away from their homes. While it cannot be denied that slavery everywhere was horrible, the conditions varied greatly and some slaves lived a much more tolerable life than others. Examples of these life styles are vividly depicted in the personal narratives of Olaudah Equiano and Mary Prince. The diversity of slave treatment and conditions was dependent on many different factors that affected a slave’s future. Mary Prince and Olaudah Equiano both faced similar challenges, but their conditions and life styles
Within the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave” Douglass discusses the deplorable conditions in which he and his fellow slaves suffered from. While on Colonel Lloyd’s plantation, slaves were given a “monthly allowance of eight pounds of pork and one bushel of corn” (Douglass 224). Their annual clothing rations weren’t any better; considering the type of field work they did, what little clothing they were given quickly deteriorated. The lack of food and clothing matched the terrible living conditions. After working on the field all day, with very little rest the night before, they must sleep on the hard uncomfortably cramped floor with only a single blanket as protection from the cold. Coupled with the overseer’s irresponsible and abusive use of power, it is astonishing how three to four hundred slaves did not rebel. Slave-owners recognized that in able to restrict and control slaves more than physical violence was needed. Therefore in able to mold slaves into the submissive and subservient property they desired, slave-owners manipulated them by twisting religion, instilling fear, breaking familial ties, making them dependent, providing them with an incorrect view of freedom, as well as refusing them education.
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.
In comparison to other slaves that are discussed over time, Olaudah Equiano truly does lead an ‘interesting’ life. While his time as a slave was very poor, there are certainly other slaves that he mentions that received far more damaging treatment than he did. In turn, this inspires him to fight for the abolishment of slavery. By pointing out both negative and positive events that occurred, the treatment he received from all of his masters, the impact that religion had on his life and how abolishing slavery could benefit the future of everyone as a whole, Equiano develops a compelling argument that does help aid the battle against slavery. For Olaudah Equiano’s life journey, he expressed an array of cruelties that came with living the life of an African slave; which demonstrates all of the suffering that he endured, then proving how much it can change one’s point of view in life.
Slaves had an expanding economic force for the Europeans. “Trade between the Europeans and Africans created the first route of the triangular slave trade”. African citizens were “forcibly removed from their homes to never return”. Sales of Africans were classified as having the full cooperation of the “African kings” in return for various trade and goods. Africans who were exchanged were forced to walk chained to the coast of the Indian Ocean. Once at the coast they were stripped of all their clothes, men, women and children all alike with just a loincloth, or strips of blue tap for women to cover their chest area. Once the Africans boarded the ship they were divided by sex, males in the bowel of the ship and the women on the upper deck. The men would be chained side by side by their necks with barely enough room to move. African women were forced to do the “unmentionable acts”. Neither were fed or watered well, and the men would be forced to sit in their own “excrement, and vomit”. Once in awhile the men would be brought to the deck and rinsed off with cold water. While on deck they would be forced to dance to “entertain the ships crew”. Many Africans would try to “revolt” or commit “suicide”, when revolting against their captors many Africans would die. For as much as “3- 6 months” the Africans would endure these torments. Once the ship ported in the America’s shore, all the Africans would be “cleaned up and stripped naked to be sold”. Once the Africans were sold they were no longer Africans to the Merchants, they were product, and, no longer having rights as humans; they were caught into what is called chattel slavery. For approximately “246 years” African Americans would endure such bondage.
Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship A Human History. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 2007. Print.
What initiated as new economic activity between England and West Africa, soon became a series of inhumane treatment of West Africans with long-lasting impacts. Before the Atlantic Slave trade, slavery acted as a, “…personal service, often for a limited period of time… (Nash)” If it had not been for the Atlantic Slave trade, slavery would have been a brief incident in the region; not a transformative act that changed the West Africa region forever. But, due to England’s successful and growing colonies and quick production of goods in the New World, the demand for labor rose drastically. More and more slaves were exported out of West Africa to the extent in which, “[West African] Criminals and ‘outsiders’ in sufficient number to satisfy the growing European demand in the seventeenth century could not be found (Nash).” The perpetuation of the Atlantic Slave trade made England and its related colonies in the Americas extremely profitable. And to further England’s economic success, hundreds of slave ships transporting thousands of slaves left the coast of West Africa to the Americas between the 17th and 18th centuries, so much so that, “… one historian has called it [the Atlantic slave trade], ‘the most traumatizing mass human migration in modern history (Nash).’” As the Americas gained a significant population increase from slaves and
"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.
ii) Explain the African slave trade – how and why it happened, and how it
There are a lot of causes of the scramble for Africa, and one of them was to ‘liberate’ the slaves in Africa after the slave trade ended. The slave trade was a time during the age of colonization when the Europeans, American and African traded with each oth...
During the 1500-1800’s, African Slave Trade became huge in the America’s. When the idea was put into motion, thousands of slaves began to be traded from their homeland, Africa, their previous life, culture, and society, to the America’s, where they would be put into forced labor and worked as slaves for the rest of their lives, and their children's lives, and their children's children's lives, and so on. The African Slave Trade, during the period of the Atlantic World, had many causes leading up to it, and greatly affected the future of America, America's culture and society, Africa, and the African Slaves.