Compare And Contrast Thomas And Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano and Fredrick Bruce Thomas were different but similar in many ways. They both faced many difficulties and had to overcome obstacles to become successful businessmen. They failed to overcome certain obstacles, but that did stop them from trying to succeed. They lived very differently from one another which also led them to both have success in a business aspect as well. To be able to compare and contrast these men, both of their stories need to be told to understand how these men succeeded and at times, failed. Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped as a child and sold into slavery (Equiano, 24). He was bought by a naval captain, Michael Henry Pascal, who changed Equiano's name to Gustavas Vassa (Equiano, 38-39). Equiano first arrived

King gave Equiano permission to get his papers from the Register Office to obtain his freedom. Equiano was overcome with happiness, got his papers and hurried back to obtain King’s signature. King signed the papers and gave Equiano his freedom (Equiano, 101). Equiano wrote, “so that, before night, I who had been a slave in the morning, trembling at the will of another, now became my own master, and completely free” (Equiano, 102). Although Equiano was now free, he knew that life was harder for a free black man. Equiano left Montserrat to go to London by signing up with Captain John Hamer onboard his ship (Equiano, 122). In London, Equiano tried to work as a servant for the Miss Querins, but instead they got him a job working as a hairdresser in Coventry Court. During this time, Equiano learned how to be a hairdresser while bettering his arithmetics (Equiano,

Thomas. When Central Powers grew, they grew to a point that when anti-German riots broke out in Moscow, the police did nothing to stop them. F.B. Thomas may have been afraid at the time but “as long as he lived in Moscow, Fredrick had numerous and close family connections to Germans and Germany” (Alexandrov, 115). F.B. Thomas started his businesses and became extremely wealthy during the war. F.B. Thomas learned about wartime fortunes the hard way. He had just invested all of his money on a block of six adjoining buildings with 38 rentals; just one week later, the first revolution broke out. When the revolution broke out, he lost everything. This however, did not stop F.B. Thomas from trying to save his business. He signed a new lease to rent his theater for five years and signed a new deal with the entrepreneur Boris but this could not save his investments that were already lost. He saw the city was near famine and the prices were soaring on the black market, and all he had was a cheap restaurant (Alexandrov, 153). F.B. Thomas was slated for arrest by the cheka and his life was in danger, this led him to fled to Constantinople. The Bolshevik Revolution ruined F.B. Thomas but he was given a second chance in Constantinople (Alexandrov, 158-162). Yet again, due to his business skills, he was able to make connections and without any money F.B. Thomas was able to open an outdoor