...Olaudah Equiano is ex-African slave who wrote his own autobiography “The Interesting Narrative of The Life of Olaudah Equiano” in his autobiography, he says that he was born in the country of what is now Nigeria. Equiano was kidnapped and sold into slavery when he was just a child. During this time, he went through what was known as the middle passage on a slave ship bound for the New World. Equiano was then shipped to Virginia to work weeding grass and gathering stones after a short time working in Barbados. Equiano was eventually bought by a naval captain for about £40 named Gustavas Vassa. Equiano was 12 when the captain brought him to England, and While he was there he stayed at Blackheath located in London with the Guerin family who was relatives to the naval captain. While he was there...
Words: 411 - Pages: 2
...Equiano is somewhat specific in making slavery injustice aware. He explain the way it was and they way the white people treated the black men while being on the slave ship. "When he looked round the ship too and saw a large furnace of copper boiling, and a multitude of black people of every description chained together" (paragraph 2). 'Every one of their countenances expressing dejection and sorrow" (paragraph 2). Each passage reflects Equiano's purpose for writing by him explaining with detail what had happen on the slave ship and what they did to him. His style of writing and what he is trying to accomplish is to make his audience and persuasive his audience that he and other people got treated badly. Equiano also express that his belief...
Words: 302 - Pages: 2
...We had a discussion question comparing the experience of Olaudah Equiano to Phillis Wheatley. Although they had significant differences within their own lives of being a slave. I view a slave as a slave and absolutely see no differences in being held against your own will, forced to carry out acts you were uncomfortable with and worked until you basically died. Once Equiano was captured he once stated "I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me."(pg 164) Although Phillis Wheatley was treated better than Equiano I felt like they glorified being a slave. They states that "she, in sixteen Months Time from her arrival, attained the English language, to which she was an utter stranger before, to such a degree, as to read any" In my opinion this still does not take away the fact that she was a slave. Therefore, I had a tough time comparing which slave had it better. I personally enjoyed the rest of the readings that we had thus far, and I did not want to just pick a third irrationally to make number...
Words: 1037 - Pages: 5
...Olaudah Equiano, was a former enslaved African, seaman and merchant who wrote an autobiography depicting the horrors of slavery and lobbied Parliament for its abolition. In his biography, he records he was born in what is now Nigeria, kidnapped and sold into slavery as a child. He then endured the middle passage on a slave ship bound for the New World. After a short period of time in Barbados, Equiano was shipped to Virginia and put to work weeding grass and gathering stones. In 1757, he was bought by a naval captain (Captain Pascal) for about £40, who named him Gustavas Vassa. Equiano was about 12 when he first arrived in England. For part of that time he stayed at Blackheath in London with the Guerin family (relatives of Pascal). It...
Words: 893 - Pages: 4
...Life of the Olaudah Equiano and Pontiac Speeches In the speech by Equiano, he talked about the auction slave trade. At the auction he describes how the slaves are only together for a short period of time until it is time to be bought. Once the auction begins the buyers will come and bid on slaves they want. Equiano then describes how the slaves feel when families are divided and friendships torn apart because the slaves are sold to different people. The aspect of slavery that Equiano emphasizes on is how families can be taken away from one another. I believe he addresses this point mainly because he has experienced this kind of situation before. He knows how it feels to struggle without the love one near. In the speech by Pontiac, he talks...
Words: 275 - Pages: 2
...Olaudah Equiano was taken by force at the age of eleven from his West African village of Benin. He was then put on a ship to travel through the rough “Middle Passage” of the Atlantic Ocean to become a slave in the West Indies. In the West Indies (Barbados) he was put up for sale to work in the sugar plantations. Then in 1766, he was sold to a Virginian farmer to be a slave there. He was a slave in North America for ten years, and then he was allowed to buy his freedom. He left North American and went to Great Britain. In Great Britain he worked as a barber and became an abolish nest. He spoke out against slavery and in 1789 wrote a book about his life called “The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African”,...
Words: 778 - Pages: 4
...Olaudah Equiano show his deep-rooted hypocrisy in many ways especially in this exchange of the slaves in St. Eustatius. “ I submitted without repining, and we went to St. Eustatius. After we had discharged our cargo there we took in a live cargo, as we call a cargo of slaves (Davis et al. Chapter 7).” Equiano's tone shows a sudden levelness and a striking absence of sympathy for the situation of the slave – a dilemma that we have come to respect through his own self-clarified involvement as unparalleled in pity and setback. In this very specific scene Equiano refers to his slaves– whose torment should impact him – as a property. A way a former slave like Equiano could really recuperate following quite a while of the mental and physical manhandle...
Words: 260 - Pages: 2
...Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano was born in the Eboe province in Africa, which is in southern Nigeria today, in 1745. He was the son of an African chief. At the age of 11, he and his sister were captured by slavers and put on a ship to experience the horrors of the Middle Passage. He was served under various masters until, with enough money, purchased his freedom in 1766. During a visit to London, he became involved with an abolitionist movement. He petitioned to the Queen in 1788 and even wrote an autobiography called: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. 10 years after his death, slavery was abolished in Great Britain. Although Equiano did not live to see these events, his actions as an abolitionist played an important part in bringing them about. In the mid to late 18th century, Olaudah Equiano was an outstanding example of courage and perseverance through his experiences as a slave, his societal class, and his religion. Equiano was captured at an early age in his homeland and shipped across the Atlantic to Barbados and then Virginia. He was then quickly purchased by a Royal Navy officer, Lieutenant Michael Pascal, who renamed him 'Gustavus Vassa' after the 16th-century Swedish king. Equiano wished, as any slave of that day, to be freed. Unfortunately, Pascal learning of Equiano's desire, and cruelly sold him...
Words: 691 - Pages: 3
...Olaudah Equiano
Imbarrato, Susan Clair. "Equiano, Olaudah." Infobase Learning - Login. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.
Words: 1129 - Pages: 5
...recording of an event or by leading a revolution.” In my essay the person who will be the topic is “Olaudah Equiano”. I am to choose an individual and discuss their impact on world history. Olaudah Equiano, who was born 1745 in West Africa, contributed to a ton of accomplishments. He was an abolitionist and former slave who was the author of “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano”; Written by Himself. Equiano’s Narrative told the story of his capture and life in bondage. At 11 years old, while caring for the family compound, he was kidnaped along with his sister. The two were taken away from the place where they grew up, and sold to the neighborhood slave traders. Following a concise time of remains in Africa, in 1755 Equiano was captured and sold to the European slave brokers, who then transported him over the Atlantic to Barbados in the West Independents in 1756. In Virginia, Equiano was bought by Michael Pascal, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Pascal gave Equiano the name of Gustavus Vassa, which stayed with him for the better part of his lifetime. Domestic slaves in...
Words: 724 - Pages: 3
...transatlantic travel inevitably lead to a sense of homelessness. In Crèvecœur’s Letters from an American Farmer, and Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, the writing revolves around characters who essentially do not have homes, both dealing with transatlantic settings. Equiano is consistently stripped of his home, starting in Africa, and is perpetually forced to adapt in new environments. Crèvecœur’s narrative depicts a new American settler, James, who comes from England, and is in the liminal state of homelessness, from settling into his new land to eventually fleeing his estate. The piece that displays homelessness a lot more overtly is The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, where Equiano immediately gets taken from his home, igniting his life of disarray. In order to convey this theme of homelessness, it is important to outline the various instances leading up to it: “...two men and a woman got over our walls, and in a moment seized us both, and, without giving us time to cry out, or make resistance, they stopped our mouths, and ran off with us into the nearest wood” (The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, p.47). It is in this moment that Equiano will henceforth struggle to maintain some semblance...
Words: 1104 - Pages: 5
...The primary purpose of historical narratives is to report as accurately as possible what happened at each particular place and time in history. But each of the writers in this unit (De Vaca, Bradford, and Equiano) went beyond merely reporting the facts; they had other, more personal reasons for writing what they did. Each of them had a personal agenda. Equiano’s personal agenda in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano was to shame his white audience into abolishing the slave trade by describing the horrible events that took place on the ship. While he did state facts about the ship, Equiano described personal experiences to persuade the audience more. For example, Equiano describes the smell of the hold as being “…so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to...
Words: 781 - Pages: 4
...Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano Empire Contrast and Contrast Paper Life in captivity will greatly affect the life of a captive. The types of things that a captive has to endure are horrifying. Olaudah Equiano and Mary Rowlandson can both agree that life in captivity is tough. Equiano and Rowlandson were both pulled from their family and forced into a life neither were expecting. Rowlandson resorted to her faith; whereas, Equiano did all he could to survive. Equiano and Rowlandson were both greatly affected by being taken and held captive. Olaudah Equiano and his sister were taken from their family when the adults were out farming and they were left to take care of the house. The captors took Equiano and his sister to many different places....
Words: 601 - Pages: 3
...Olaudah Equiano was enslaved during the historic Atlantic Slave Trade, in the late 1700’s and into the 1800’s. Though nobody could argue that slavery was “good” or even “humane,” Equiano did have the fortune of learning skills most other slaves didn’t while serving his master. Equiano learned the skills of writing and arithmetic, among others, and was able to buy his freedom after laboring for years. After he earned his freedom, Equiano became an abolitionist speaker and writer, striving to rid the world of slavery. He wrote an autobiography entitled The Life of Olaudah Equiano, which was first published in 1789, but revised and released yet again in 1814. Assumably, words were very important to Equiano and chosen with care. The excerpt...
Words: 524 - Pages: 3
...Olaudah Equiano’s The interesting narrative of Olaudah Equiano was an interesting inspiring read about his life.He starts the narrative, establishing credibility by saying he’s not writing this for fame or fortune and saying that he isn't a hero but this is his life. He was born in Eboe or Esseka in 1745 and was kidnapped with his sister when he was young. He speaks on the customs, practices and lifestyle of his people. He changes master frequently and eventually taken aboard a slaveship. He tries to remain hopeful throughout slavery going from around Africa to North America to England. He meets Michael Henry Pascal who grows fond of him and buys him for some friends back in England. On his way to England, his name changes to Gustavus Vassa...
Words: 261 - Pages: 2
