While reading The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, many questions arose in my head. I wanted to further my knowledge on multiple topics. The topic that stuck out to me the most was how the treatment of slaves differed throughout the book depending on their location. I analyzed the book into further detail on this topic. From Africa to England, Equiano experienced and observed many different treatment forms. The treatment differed due to a variety of customs and cultures. Olaudah Equiano started slavery in Africa, his homeplace. His experience here was one for the better. In Africa, it was skeptical to hangout in the neighborhoods due to slave kidnappers. As stated in The interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, “Generally when the grown people in the neighbourhood were gone far in the fields to labour, the children assembled together in some of the neighbours' premises to play; and commonly some of us used to get up a tree to look out for any assailant, or kidnapper, that might come upon us; for they sometimes took those opportunities of our parents' absence to attack and carry off as many as they could seize” (Equiano, Chapter II). This goes to show how easy it was for slaves to be captured and taken away in Africa. Typically, slaves in Africa …show more content…
Different cultures and customs play a big part in this. I also believe that the treatment of slaves depended on the type of work needing to be done. If it was a large plantation they were more brutal to their slaves being as more work needed to be done. If it was just small amounts of work such as England and Africa, they were much kinder. From analyzing The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, I evaluated that North America and the slave ships treated slaves the worst. England and Africa had the best forms of treatment for African American’s. Although it may differ depending on the slave, I analyzed this from Olaudah Equiano’s
Captivity narratives were popular with readers in both America and the European continent. Captivity narratives of Americans relate the experiences of whites enslaved by Native Americans and Africans enslaved by Americans. Such narratives were often used as propaganda: as a result, Europeans often stereotyped Native Americans as cruel and whites began to see slavery of African-Americans as evil. Two widely read captivity narratives are A Narrative of Captivity by Mary Rowlandson and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano, which, respectively, relate the experiences of an adult white woman captured by Indians and an eleven-year-old Black male captured for the American slave market. Examining these two
Tobacco and Slaves: Exam 1 In colonial America, slaves were definitely not seen as equal humans to the Englishmen but they were not treated horribly, by English accounts at first. Englishmen left accounts that showed they cared about the treatment of their slaves, but only in a manner of the African American slaves being property while the better treatment of them would in-turn make the Englishman a better plantation owner therefore producing more crops like tobacco. The African American slaves in the colonial Virginia were in a sense seen as merely property to their owners.
In reading, the exceedingly moving texts of Mary Rowlandson’s a Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration and Olaudah Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano ’s I cannot but become on how both share their individual stories of not only being enslaved but being kidnapped and how horrific it was to experience it.
According to Olaudah Equiano, a slave, explains the harsh things the slaves have to go through, stating, “... for slaves to be branded with the initial letters of their master’s name.” He goes on to state that the slaves are beat all the time for no reason, and are chained most of the time. (Doc 3) The description of how the slaves are being treated resemble the way people treat animals, this shows that the English see Africans as animals; meaning they see them as superior compared to the slaves. According to the picture drawn by Charles de Rochefort that shows the intense labor that the slaves had to do, it also shows the English just watching over them like they are little kids.
The brutality of American slavery prior to the abolishment of slavery after the American civil war of 1861 to 1865 varied depending on the conditions offered by slave masters and particular historical events along with the states which slaves were in (Source A). Evidence suggests that the treatment of slaves especially in the southern region of America (which includes the states South Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Georgia) was horrendous as it included various punishments which scared slaves not only physically but also mentally. The treatment a slave received was also based on the how long the slave or slaves actually worked for a particular owner (Source B). Many testimonials from former African American slaves go on further to show
Slavery is one of the most horrific things that human beings have ever been involved with. It is the unwilful subduing of another human under the guise of working, performing, or helping their master in a multitude of ways. Slavery was very prominent in the New World, specifically in the regions of Brazil and the Caribbean. Through firsthand accounts, sources, and historiographies, we will analyze the structures, experiences, and lifestyles of enslaved African people in these regions of the New World. Slavery is typically seen through a lens of oppression, mistreatment, and suffering.
The use of slaves has always been present in the world since the beginning of civilization, although the use and treatment of those slaves has differed widely through time and geographic location. Different geographies call for different types of work ranging from labor-intensive sugar cultivation and production in the tropics to household help in less agriculturally intensive areas. In addition to time and space, the mindsets and beliefs of the people in those areas affect how the slaves will be treated and how “human” those slaves will be perceived to be. In the Early Modern Era, the two main locations where slaves were used most extensively were the European dominated Americas and the Muslim Empires. The American slavery system and the
Such stories were regularly utilized as promulgation or propaganda: accordingly, Europeans frequently stereotyped Native Americans as merciless and whites started to see subjugation of African-Americans as detestable. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the two narratives which are A Narrative of the Captivity and The interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equianoa. A Narrative of Captivity by Mary Rowlandson and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano are two generally read imprisonment accounts , which, individually, relate the encounters of a grown-up white lady caught by Indians and an eleven-year-old Black male caught for the American slave market. Looking at these two accounts uncovers fascinating similitudes and contrasts and in addition in the encounters and responses of these two prisoners.
Africans were forcefully enslaved and exiled from their homes in Africa. They were looked down upon by many people. The transatlantic slave trade is a harrowing event in human history that involved the forced capture and enslavement of millions of Africans. As this issue illustrates, the Africans were dehumanized and seen solely as commodities, who were valued for their physical capabilities in order to provide labor and wealth for the growing plantation societies in the Americas. An aspect of the dehumanization of Africans was the use of violence.
By using this reference, it illustrated the severity of the alienation of blacks in the Southern United States. In 1619, a Dutch ship “introduced the first captured Africans to America, planting the seeds of a slavery system that evolved into a nightmare of abuse and cruelty that would ultimately divide the nation”. The Africans were not treated humanely, but were treated as workers with no rights. Originally, they were to work for poor white families for seven years and receive land and freedom in return. As the colonies prospered, the colonists did not want to give up their workers and in 1641, slavery was legalized.
The trade of African slaves in the 17th century was perceived as so commonplace that a good deal of the world's population gave it little or no thought. British involvement with slavery became unavoidable at the end of the 17th century, when abolitionist literature gained public attention. The first hand account of life as a slave in Olaudah Equiano's auto-biography was like no other piece of abolitionist literature at the time. The three methods of persuasion in his writing are ethical appealing ethos, logic engaging logos, and his most effective of emotional appealing pathos. Equiano's use of pathos in his auto-biography was effective in persuading the British that slavery is wrong, because of the emotional effects, such as misery, sympathy,
Laleshka Santiago-Rivera Professor R. Stephens English 2110-902 20 February 2018 Captivity narratives originated around the 16th and 17th century as America progressed and writers adjusted to the change. Two of the most well-known captivity narratives are A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson by Mary Rowlandson and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African Written by Himself by Olaudah Equiano. Both narratives influenced their reader's actions by sharing the commotion of being captured and enslaved, and why they didn’t give up, therefore changing the path of history. Rowlandson’s narrates the occurrences of a 39-year-old white woman captured by Indians in 1675 and
In his book, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, African author Olaudah Equiano wrote about his life and experiences after being sold into the slave trade. Equiano used his writing to expose the horrors of slavery and the agony he and other slaves faced. He wrote with the hope that by exposing the horrors that slaves endure, people would realize how wicked slavery was and put an end to it. Equiano spoke about his encounters with white men in the Middle Passage and how he was terrified of them in chapter two of his book. As they examined him when he initially boarded the ship, he described how he was terrified: "I was immediately handled and tossed up to see if I were sound by some of the crew; and I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me."
Equiano writes how the white men would throw the dead over board as if they were basically trash, slaves were beaten severely if they refused to eat or tried to escape. These severe acts of punishment
Olaudah Equiano was a slave since he was 13. When he got to the age of 21 his proprietor permitted him to purchase himself off of subjugation, and in this story he is educating us regarding how he felt about being a slave and how it was extremely frightful to be a slave on a boat with being a starved, encompassed by affliction, and abuse. Benjamin Banneker letter to, Thomas Jefferson was considered as challenge writing since he was composing a chronicle to secretary of state Thomas Jefferson in acknowledgment on the most proficient method to abrogating subjugation ought to be. Banneker felt in Jefferson 's life he ought to concur with him that servitude was really merciless and only