. Surely, this is a new refinement in cruelty, which, while it has no advantage to atone for it, thus aggravates distress, and adds fresh horrors even to the wretchedness of slavery. While I was in this astonishment, one of my fellow prisoners spoke to a countryman of his, about the horses, who said they were the same kind they had in their country. For a portion of time, the U.S. relied on the backs of slaves to carry on their whole production processes and maintain economic balance. After a few months, a merchant and naval officer, Michael Henry Pascal, came to visit Equianos master and liked the look of Equiano. Resource Type(s): Primary Sources, Interactives & Media, Lessons & Activities, Worksheets But this disappointment was the least of my sorrow. Public Domain. Some of these documents have been edited, but all are authentic. 4.8: Primary Source: Olaudah Equiano is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts. Equianos story allows for an in depth perspective of slave trade and the way it functioned. Equiano realized that as a black man it was impossible for him to get legal retribution. I therefore wished much to be from amongst them, for I expected they would sacrifice me; but my wishes were vain for we were so quartered that it was impossible for any of us to make our escape. "when I was carried on board. Many merchants and planters now came on board, though it was in the evening. Ask and answer questions. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Mr. D is presumably white as most were aboard the ships besides the slaves and he is a Christian. He was initially terrified that the frightening-looking white men directing the ship were going to eat him, but the other captives eventually convinced Equiano that they were being brought across the sea to work for white men. For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. representing men, women, and children. No marks if Financial Functions are not used. I could not help expressing my fears and apprehensions to some of my countrymen; I asked them if these people had no country, but lived in this hollow place (the ship)? Corrections? 0000049655 00000 n This resource includes a teacher guide, student worksheet, downloadable audio, images of supporting primary sources, and discussion questions. Refine any search. DuBois on Black Progress (1895, 1903), Jane Addams, The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements (1892), Eugene Debs, How I Became a Socialist (April, 1902), Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Alice Stone Blackwell, Answering Objections to Womens Suffrage (1917), Theodore Roosevelt on The New Nationalism (1910), Woodrow Wilson Requests War (April 2, 1917), Emma Goldman on Patriotism (July 9, 1917), W.E.B DuBois, Returning Soldiers (May, 1919), Lutiant Van Wert describes the 1918 Flu Pandemic (1918), Manuel Quezon calls for Filipino Independence (1919), Warren G. Harding and the Return to Normalcy (1920), Crystal Eastman, Now We Can Begin (1920), Marcus Garvey, Explanation of the Objects of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (1921), Hiram Evans on the The Klans Fight for Americanism (1926), Herbert Hoover, Principles and Ideals of the United States Government (1928), Ellen Welles Page, A Flappers Appeal to Parents (1922), Huey P. Long, Every Man a King and Share our Wealth (1934), Franklin Roosevelts Re-Nomination Acceptance Speech (1936), Second Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1937), Lester Hunter, Id Rather Not Be on Relief (1938), Bertha McCall on Americas Moving People (1940), Dorothy West, Amateur Night in Harlem (1938), Charles A. Lindbergh, America First (1941), A Phillip Randolph and Franklin Roosevelt on Racial Discrimination in the Defense Industry (1941), Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga on Japanese Internment (1942/1994), Harry Truman Announcing the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima (1945), Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945), Dwight D. Eisenhower, Atoms for Peace (1953), Senator Margaret Chase Smiths Declaration of Conscience (1950), Lillian Hellman Refuses to Name Names (1952), Paul Robesons Appearance Before the House Un-American Activities Committee (1956), Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), Richard Nixon on the American Standard of Living (1959), John F. Kennedy on the Separation of Church and State (1960), Congressman Arthur L. Miller Gives the Putrid Facts About Homosexuality (1950), Rosa Parks on Life in Montgomery, Alabama (1956-1958), Barry Goldwater, Republican Nomination Acceptance Speech (1964), Lyndon Johnson on Voting Rights and the American Promise (1965), Lyndon Johnson, Howard University Commencement Address (1965), National Organization for Women, Statement of Purpose (1966), George M. Garcia, Vietnam Veteran, Oral Interview (1969/2012), Fannie Lou Hamer: Testimony at the Democratic National Convention 1964, Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968), Statement by John Kerry of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (1971), Barbara Jordan, 1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address (1976), Jimmy Carter, Crisis of Confidence (1979), Gloria Steinem on Equal Rights for Women (1970), First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan (1981), Jerry Falwell on the Homosexual Revolution (1981), Statements from The Parents Music Resource Center (1985), Phyllis Schlafly on Womens Responsibility for Sexual Harassment (1981), Jesse Jackson on the Rainbow Coalition (1984), Bill Clinton on Free Trade and Financial Deregulation (1993-2000), The 9/11 Commission Report, Reflecting On A Generational Challenge (2004), George W. Bush on the Post-9/11 World (2002), Pedro Lopez on His Mothers Deportation (2008/2015), Chelsea Manning Petitions for a Pardon (2013), Emily Doe (Chanel Miller), Victim Impact Statement (2015). During our passage I first saw flying fishes, which surprised me very much: they used frequently to fly across the ship, and many of them fell on the deck. Initially, Equiano had a tremendous amount of worry related to the appearance of the slave traders and that initial discomfort was based upon racial differences. It went through one American and eight British editions during his lifetime. The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. In London Equiano lodged with relatives of Pascal, two sisters called the Miss Guerins, who were kind to Equiano and began to teach him to read and write. More books than SparkNotes. Equianos autobiography was so popular that it ran through nine English editions and one printing in the United States and was translated into Dutch, German, and Russian during his lifetime. Olaudah Equianos first-person account recalls his terrifying journey as an 11-year-old captive aboard a slave ship from Africa to Barbados in 1756. O, ye nominal Christians! Within the kingdom of Benin is an inland province named Essaka, where he was born in 1745. This heightened my wonder; and I was now more persuaded than ever, that I was in another world, and that every thing about me was magic. 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 ships crew, who were instantly alarmed. person accounts of the Middle Passage are very rare. Back in England, Equiano became an active abolitionist. 0000011301 00000 n Join the dicussion. Equiano had been bought and sold throughout the Americas and Europe; he showed the, Olaudah Equianos The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavas Vassa, the African was first published in 1789 in London, England (687). An Analysis of Olaudah Equiano's 'The Middle Passage', Middle Passage by Olaudah Equiano Equiano's life story is a journey of education in which he goes from innocence in edenic Africa to the cruel experience of slavery in the West. Struggling with distance learning? Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. They put us in separate parcels, and examined us attentively. He was entranced and frightened, too, by the strange workings of the ship, which seemed to him to be driven by magic. After being betrayed by a number of different captains, he finally managed to return to the West Indies, where he obtained a certificate of good behavior from Mr. King and returned to England. 1161 Words5 Pages. He is saved from a life of plantation slavery, but his seafaring service gives him the opportunity to witness firsthand the brutal practices of slavery in several areas of the world. How did equiano react to his white captors? <]/Prev 754763>> 0000003156 00000 n Happily perhaps for myself I was soon reduced so low here that it was thought necessary to keep me almost always on deck; and from my extreme youth I was not put in fetters. This indeed was often the case with myself. And why, said I, do we not see them? They answered, because they were left behind. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. Finally Equiano managed to save forty pounds, which King had agreed would be the price of his freedom, and he bought his own manumission. He lectured against the cruelty of British slaveowners. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. As you analyze the documents, take into account the source of each document and any point of view that may be presented in the document. 0000002609 00000 n Equianos luck soon shifted when he was once again kidnapped and sold as a slave, this time he would have to endure the notoriously dreadful journey across the sea to America. After a long, torturous voyage, in which the conditions were so bad as to provoke some of the slaves to commit suicide, they reached Barbados, where Equiano witnessed families being separated without any thought to the pain and distress this caused. While enslaved, Equiano was taught how to read and write, and was baptized as a Christian. 0000000016 00000 n A long and uncomfortable trade route for slaves from Africa to the Americas; ships were packed with violent white men who watched the slaves every move. They at last took notice of my surprise; and one of them, willing to increase it, as well as to gratify my curiosity, made me one day look through it. 0000009559 00000 n Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Pascal purchased Equiano and brought him to the ship to be taken to England. Every circumstance I met with served only to render my state more painful, and heighten my apprehensions, and my opinion of the cruelty of the whites. There he saw a slave ship for the first time and was stunned by the cramped, unclean, even inhuman condition in which black Africans were confined on the ships. The clouds appeared to me to be land, which disappeared as they passed along. First-person accounts of the Middle Passage are very rare. From his accounts he has written down, he shows his life as a slave. He was not used to their language, A long and uncomfortable trade route for slaves from Africa to the Americas; ships were packed with violent white men who watched the slaves every move. From there he went to Virginia, where he was enslaved by a sea captain, Michael Henry Pascal, who gave him the name Gustavus Vassa and with whom he traveled widely. What was the Middle Passage? Constitution Avenue, NW Equiano still observed a number of cases in which freemen were forced back into slaverysomething which nearly happened to him as welland this underlined for him the fragility of his freedom. Although Olaudah Equiano was not directly involved in American slavery, several aspects of The Life of Olaudah Equiano can be used to understand why the institution lasted so long. Allows for an in depth perspective of slave trade and the way it functioned was born in 1745 it! Primary Source: Olaudah Equiano is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or by. 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