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The interesting narrative of the life of olaudah equiano
The interesting narrative of the life of olaudah equiano
Essays on the interesting narrative of the life of olaudah equiano
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The Middle Passage was a voyage that brought enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean to North America and the West Indies. Olaudah Equiano was born around year 1745 in Guinea which is now Nigeria. He was sold into slavery while he was still a child and he worked in America and in the West Indies. He bought his own freedom and he stayed in England. He described his life as a slave in the Middle Passage as terrible. He was whipped after he refused his masters who offered him eatables. He said he wasn't hungry, because of the bad smell on the ship cause of diseases and sick slaves. He saw masters whipping slaves if they didn't obey them. And as for "The Amistad", slaves had taken revenge and started killing their white masters from the La Amistad ship. They were whipped and they suffered a lot. And were all …show more content…
They don't have much air going on the ship for there was a lot of slaves and there is no much air to breath for all of them, they were all on the low deck of the ship. The dreadful Middle Passage had caused all the slaves suffered to death.
Olaudah Equiano was born in 1745 in Eboa, Guinea which is now Nigeria. He was a son of a chief, and he was kidnapped into slavery at the age of 11, he was put on board in a slave ship. He described his first time when he arrived on the coast was the sea, and a slave ship. "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"(Equiano, The Middle Passage). He said that they speak another language and he don't have any idea what was the language. During the Middle Passage, some of the
Olaudah Equiano and Cinque are similar because they were both slaves that were set free. They both went through the same struggles and hardships in the slave life. Both went through the same struggles and hardships in the slave life. Both men went from being slaves to becoming important icons in history the theme of both stories is similar for they both discuss the horrible conditions of slave life. These slaves were considered low class humans that didn’t affect the world in anyway at all. In some respects Joadson is similar to Olaudah Equiano because he worked for his freedom and he ended up becoming westernized. They both...
The North American Slave Trade began when slave traders started to kidnap people of all ages from West Africa. They were forced to endure unspeakable horrors on their trek across the Atlantic as well as when they were finally sold into slavery in the Americas. Olaudah Equiano was one of the few Africans to document his experience on paper, and have his two volume autobiography published. The journey Olaudah suffers through showed the horrors of the trip across the atlantic, but also showed how what he thought and felt about the process as well.
Equiano was the youngest of his brothers who enjoyed playing outside throwing javelins enjoying the normal life of a small child. At the beginning of the day, the elders would leave their children at home while they went out into the fields to work. While they were gone, some of the children would get together to play but always took precautions of potential kidnappers. Even with all these precautions, people were still seized from their homes and taken away. Equiano was home one day with his little sister tending to the everyday household needs when out of nowhere they were captured by a couple men who had gotten over the walls. They had no time to resist or scream for help before they found themselves bound, gagged, and being taken away. Equiano had no idea where these people were taking him and they didn’t stop once until nightfall where they stayed until dawn. He tells us about how they traveled for many days and nights not having any clue where they were going or when they would get there. Slaves traveled by land and by sea, but Equiano’s journey was by sea. He tells us how he was carried aboard and immediately chained to other African Americans that were already on the ship. Once the ship halted on land, Equiano along with many other slaves were sent to the merchant’s yard where they would be herded together and bought by the
Olaudah Equiano claims that his sister and him were kidnapped in Africa and brought to the colonies at the
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.
Everyone contributes something to the common stock; and, as we are unacquainted with idleness, we have no beggars” (39). The concept of slavery was accepted as a part of the culture and even in the fields of Isseke, Africa slaves were put to work. “Sometimes indeed, we sold slaves to them, but they were only prisoners of war, or such among us as had been convicted of kidnapping or adultery, and some other crimes, which we esteemed heinous.” (38) Equiano’s fortune landed him in the hands of a wealthy widow who purchased him from the traders who had kidnapped him. He lived the life as a companion to the widow and her son.
...served as a pillar in the economy of one of the earliest forms of globalization.”. On the other hand, the documentary provides facts illustrating approximately how many slaves died during this monstrous journey. The book describes the middle passage as the name given to the journey across the Atlantic in which many slaves died. According to the textbook, “In the North, slaves worked as field hands on farms and as domestic servants, dockworkers, and craftspeople in cities. But because of their labor-intensive cash crops, the market for slaves was much more lucrative in the South and the Chesapeake.” The documentary only discusses slavery up to 1800 however as we know slavery continued beyond that year with the cause of the civil war in 1861 which was a war fought over slavery. Overall, I highly recommend watching the documentary as it is educational and entertaining.
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.
Klein, Herbert S. The middle passage: Comparative studies in the Atlantic slave trade. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press , 1978. 282. Print.
Equiano, Olaudah. "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Or Gustavus Vassa, The African,Written By Himself." The Project Gutenberg. N.p., 17 Mar. 2005. Web. 5 Dec. 2013.
There is no other experience in history where innocent African Americans encountered such a brutal torment. This infamous ordeal is called the Middle Passage or the “middle leg” of the Triangular Trade, which was the forceful voyage of African Americans from Africa to the New World. The Africans were taken from their homeland, boarded onto the dreadful ships, and scattered into the New World as slaves. 10- 16 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic during the 1500’s to the 1900’s and 10- 15 percent of them died during the voyage. Millions of men, women, and children left behind their personal possessions and loved ones that will never be seen again. Not only were the Africans limited to freedom, but also lost their identity in the process. Kidnapped from their lives that throbbed with numerous possibilities of greatness were now out of sight and thrown into the never-ending pile of waste. The loathsome and inhuman circumstances that the Africans had to face truly describe the great wrongdoing of the Middle Passage.
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
First of all it is important to examine how many African slaves were brought to the New World. The Middle Passage is infamous route of the ships that carried slaves to the Americas. After the arrival to the New World, the slaves were sold or exchanged for the valuable goods. The term Middle Passage might sound somewhat romantic, but in reality it stands as a one of the most terrible events in history. The Middle Passage is the passage of bonded slaves from West Africa to the Americas. In the beginning, there was a trade between Europeans and African leaders who sold their enemies and disabled people in exchange for unique gifts such as guns, tobacco, iron bars and etc. But at the later stages of slavery, Europeans often kidnapped Africans at the costal area of Western Africa and then sent to ships that sailed them to the New World where this new free work force was needed to help stabilize the new nation.
Its been 872 days since I stepped foot in America. Me and my family were brought here as slaves through the Middle Passage. Arriving in Jamestown, Virginia. Me, father, mother and little Saddie. Since that exact secound my life has become a nightmare. Stripped from our freedom and against our will we were taken aboard a ship of about 50 people. It was a long journey. Each night I dreamt of leaving the ship and thought maybe I can escape but it didn’t go like that. The ship was tightly packed many diseases spread at one point I thought I was going to receive it as well. Aboard the ship I saw horrific things. People were brutally whipped. Some tried to kill themselves, some achieved it others being caught were brutally beaten. At one pont I thought
The Middle Passage (or Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade) was a voyage that took slaves from Africa to the Americas via tightly packed ships. The trade started around the early 1500s, and by 1654 about 8,000-10,000 slaves were being imported from Africa to the Americas every year. This number continued to grow, and by 1750 that figure had climbed to about 60,000-70,000 slaves a year. Because of the lack of necessary documents, it is hard to tell the exact number of Africans taken from their homeland. But based on available clues and data, an estimated 9-15 million were taken on the Middle Passage, and of that about 3-5 million died. While the whole idea seems sick and wrong, many intelligent people and ideas went in to making the slave trade economically successful.