ipl-logo

Effects Of Olaudah Equiano On Slavery

1372 Words6 Pages

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. Africans who resisted the process of commodification and dehumanization were often subjected to brutal violence. This violence was designed to break the spirit of the Africans and to make them …show more content…

Equiano experiences his transition from freedom to enslavement as a child. His childhood up until 11 years old was good. He was happy in Africa with his family. As a young man, he was shipped to the Caribbean as a victim of the Atlantic slave trade. Later sold as a slave to a royal navy officer. To be sold twice more after that. He purchased his freedom in 1766. Went on to work as an explorer and merchant, and settled in England. Equiano's experience with the selling process of slaves was dreadful. He goes on to explain how he was under the deck, while people continue to cry all through the night. All pushed in with no room, more people than should be allowed on a boat. Slaves were forced to do jumping jacks as their only exercise being called “dancing slaves''. If they were not physically fit then they couldn't be worth much money. Slave traders were looking for anyone who was physically able to lift or do a multitude of things. Needed them specifically for free …show more content…

Slaves of all ages were fighting against death and the dehumanization they were put through. Seen as a number and lost profit over a human being and lives lost. They were viewed as commodities that could be bought and sold like any other good. African enslaved people became the most valuable commodity for European traders as the demand for cheap labor on plantations in the Americas increased. The commodification of Africans was accompanied by a process of dehumanization that aimed to strip Africans of their humanity and reduce them to objects. Dehumanization was a necessary component of the transatlantic slave trade as it allowed Europeans and Americans to justify the buying and selling of human beings. The process of dehumanization was designed to break the spirit of Africans and to make them more

Show More
Related

  • Papers On Olaudah Equiano

    621 Words  | 3 Pages

    During 1765, at the age of 20, King had promised Equiano that for the purchase of forty pounds he could buy his freedom. When Robert gave him a new name he refused and said he preferred to be called Jacob but Robert refused as well and Equiano had to submit to his new name. He was shown to comprehend reading and writing more fluently and was guided in the course of religion by King. Since King promised to give Equiano his freedom on behalf of their deal in 1767 Equiano achieved to buy his freedom. King urged for Equiano to bide on as business partner but found it dangerous to residual in Britain as a freedman.

    Read More

  • Olaudah Equiano Research Paper

    507 Words  | 3 Pages

    He travelled a lot. To the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the Arctic as he attempted to reach the North Pole. When returning to London, he came into contact with an anti-slavery campaigner, Granville Sharp when Equiano had heard his friend, John Annis, a former African American cook and a freed slave, was kidnapped by John’s former owner. Equiano and Sharp tried to save Annis but didn’t make it.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Frederick Douglass And Olaudah Equiano

    1040 Words  | 5 Pages

    This time he was sold closer to the sea coast, where he saw his first large body of water ever. After being enslaved, Equiano was transported across the Atlantic, first to Barnados and then to Virginia. This is when he first witnessed how cruel the white men were. One day they had caught a fish, although hearing the cries of the hungry slaves, the

    Read More

  • Olaudah Equiano Dbq

    289 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to PBS Africans in America, after Equinao bought his freedom he became an active abolitionist in England. Olaudah Equiano’s descriptions of the middle passage severed a purpose for

    Read More

  • The Similarities Between Olaudah Equiano And Jarena Lee

    915 Words  | 4 Pages

    Equiano was bought by a naval captain named Captain Pascal whom he served during naval campaigns in Canada and in the Mediterranean. By extensive trading and saving his earnings, Equiano was able to buy his freedom. In 1776, Equiano became involved in setting up a new plantation colony on the coast of Central America (Smith, 2013). Being a former slave, Equiano did everything in his power to improve the condition of the enslaved people brought

    Read More

  • Drawing The Color Line Chapter Summaries

    677 Words  | 3 Pages

    The African slave trade was very harsh for many reasons. This is because the idea of capture/sale was inhumane, blacks were kept in cages, conditions of ships were horrible, and one out of every three blacks died on the way over. By 1800, ten to fifteen million blacks had been transported as slaves to the Americas; while in Africa, fifty million human beings lives' were lost to death and slavery in those years. Blacks were easier to enslave than whites and Indians, but still were trouble to keep under thumb. These Afro-Americans rebelled by often running away and attempt to find family or sabotaging their work.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Equiano And Mrs Rowlandson

    770 Words  | 4 Pages

    Equiano narrated, “One day, when all our people were gone out to their works as usual, and I and my dear sister were left to mind the house, 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.” (Baym, 677) Unlike Rowlandson, Equiano was not held for ransom, after being captured he was sold into the American slave trade. Both Rowlandson and Equiano were separated from their families, and moved numerous times during their captivity. Remarkably enough, during the times they were relocated, they both were reunited with a family member for a period of time. Rowlandson was reunited with her daughter, while Equiano was reunited with his

    Read More

  • Alexander Falconbridge Essay

    479 Words  | 2 Pages

    He later gained his freedom and moved to England. While he was there he became a Christian and did missionary work. He was an abolitionist and he wrote his auto-biography. When Equiano got on the boat, he was afraid the Europeans were going to kill him. He looked around the boat and saw black people chained together with sad looks on their faces.

    Read More

  • Slavery In The Lives Of Olaudah Equiano And Mary Prince

    1706 Words  | 7 Pages

    Page 11). He is saying that although he wanted to repay the evils he had witnessed and endured, he would keep hope that one day God would right every wrong that had been done. This hope also came in forging spiritual and social relationships with men like this one. With men who would encourage him and share their own longing to inspire him to endure all the tragedy. Equiano trusted that God would bring his judgement, which would bring freedom to the slaves and suffering to the slave masters, and he was willing to fight or die for it.

    Read More

  • Ap World History Dbq Slavery

    1388 Words  | 6 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Native American Exploration Research Paper

    598 Words  | 3 Pages

    With the conquest of the newly-found Africa, came the introduction of slavery, which led to the enslavement of nearly 7.7 million African slaves by Europe between 1492 and 1820. The Europeans believed that this New World would provide them with the riches that couldn’t be found in Europe. Along with these riches, Europeans were also in search of religious and further social equality.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Cabeza De Vaca And Olaudah Equiano

    811 Words  | 4 Pages

    After being forced to travel for several days, Equiano and his sister were separated. For the next six or seven months, Equiano was sold several times to African masters in different countries. He was eventually taken to the west coast of Africa and carried aboard a slave ship bound for the West Indies” (Equiano 84). This text proves that Equiano in fact was forced to take thus journey as a slave and was seperated from all of his family. Both of these men took a similar journey to the new world, but they see it very

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Benjamin Franklin And Jefferson

    552 Words  | 3 Pages

    Equiano experienced the worst situation when his sister and him were taken as slaves. He was separated from his sister after being captured, and he never had the chance to see her again after that. As slave he used other names such as Gustavus Vassa which was given by British and American masters. He used that name for his book called “Equiano’s Travels : The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African” (Perkins 162). He fought to end slavery after writing his first African-American slave narrative and autobiography.

    Read More

  • Olaudah Equiano Anti Slavery

    941 Words  | 4 Pages

    The first horrible act was when Equiano was kidnapped with his sister in chapter one, when “two men and a woman” (Equiano 12) stole them away and took them to the woods. Olaudah Equiano “cried and grieved continually” (Equiano 12) when he and his sister, the only family or comfort he had left was taken away from him. To think of all the children separated from their families during the slave trade, one can only imagine the heart break and emotional wreckage this caused. Another example of the horrors of slavery was in chapter three, however this example of cruelty was more physical.

    Read More

  • Labor System 1450 To 1750

    928 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the Americas, the main exports were silver and cash crops, both of which required work that was terribly tedious and exhausting. This led to the overwhelming predominance of slavery in the Americas, since the Europeans were not willing to carry out the hard work themselves. When the Europeans found they lacked a workforce, the sought slaves elsewhere. While the people who were called slaves changed, the institution never did. The same mistreatment, torture, and horrible conditions were evident in American slavery until it was abolished centuries later.

    Read More

More about Effects Of Olaudah Equiano On Slavery

Open Document