ipl-logo

Olaudah Equiano Research Paper

1457 Words6 Pages

Being Taken into Slavery Although the African Americans of all ages were confused about the horrible things happening to them, some of them stayed strong. The hard life that the African Americans went through were horrific. The many trials and tribulations they faced only seemed to get worse as their “initiation” into slavery continued. The brutality African Americans faced while being taken into slavery was just the beginning of the terror. First, slave traders, or those in service of slave traders, would find, many times, isolated villages to attack. The whites would go into villages and raid them for the strong men that could be a hard worker for them. African Americans would be sleeping in their beds at night And they would be suddenly …show more content…

One account of being taken upon a slave ship comes from Gustavus Vassa (also known as Olaudah Equiano). As relived through his autobiography The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano, Vassa details his experience boarding the ships as horrifying. Thrown aboard a ship, Vassa found himself at once terrified. As he recovered, he found other black people around him. Never having seen Whites before, Vassa had no idea what was going to happen to him. Confused by his unfamiliar surroundings, Gustavus asked those around him if he was going be eaten by the crew of the ship. Vassa’s experiences were very representative of what others faced (The Slave …show more content…

There were many typical, and horrifying, circumstances one might see on a slave ship. The men and boys were stripped and shackled together two-by-two. They were put in the hold of the ship which was dark and unsanitary(The Slave Trade). The quarters of the slaves which they were at on the ship's crammed so they could carry more African Americans. Women and children weren’t chained up and they quarters were different then the mens. All of the slaves slept on bare wood and the motion of the ship caused the elbows of the slaves to wear down to the bone. There were two different philosophies among the slave ship captain which were the “loose packers” and the “tight packers (The Slave Trade). The loose packers thought carrying less African American would mean more of them survive the voyage and they would get more money out of them. Tight packers thought more money would come out of overcrowding the hold of the ship and if a few slaves die they die. If the weather is good they will allow the slaves to come out on the deck just during the day. Many slaves died of measles, smallpox, malaria, and dysentery (The Slave

Show More
Related

  • Marcus Rediker The Slave Ship

    552 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Slave Ship, by Marcus Rediker was wrote in 2007 about the cruel and brutal actions the slaves endured on their journey across the Atlantic Ocean. He states, “this has been a painful book to write, if I have done any justice to the subject, it will be a painful book to read.” Marcus Rediker accomplished exactly that. This book was not only compelling but emotional, heartbreaking, and makes a reader think, how could someone be so cruel to another living being. Within the first couple pages, the book brought me to tears.

    Read More

  • Gustavus Vassa Dbq Answers

    361 Words  | 2 Pages

    1. Gustavus Vassa described the people as white men with horrible looks, red faces, and long hair. 2. When Gustavus Vassa realized he was going to become a slave he was filled with so much horror and anger he passed out. 3.

    Read More

  • Papers On Olaudah Equiano

    621 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jackie Flores Dr. Hevert History 1301 23 September 2017 Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano also known as Gustavus Vassa was most known for his autobiography. He was born during 1746, and was also a writer and anti-slavery campaigner. He was also a freed slave. He gave support to stop slavery during the British movement.

    Read More

  • Is Frederick Douglass's Treatment Of African American

    825 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many slave owners treated African Americans like animals. As an example, they starved their slaves while they gave all the food to their visitors. It is cruel how they didn’t save even a bread for each of their slaves. Not to mention, African Americans had to sleep on a sheet instead of a bed and that is all they had to sleep. The clothing they had was also very little and poor.

    Read More

  • Slave Dancer Quotes

    1147 Words  | 5 Pages

    Many of the sailors were accurately portrayed by their actions, by throwing slaves into the ocean, flogging, beaten, tortured, and other forms of cruel punishment. “Alexander Falconbridge was a surgeon on slave ships in the 18th century. An abolitionist and governor himself is guilty of all the violent attacks towards slaves. A disgraces to human nature, and profound language were brutal examples sailors often used towards slaves.” ( First Hand; Accounts Study).

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Slave Ship A Human History By Marcus Rediker

    1012 Words  | 5 Pages

    Marcus Rediker’s The Slave Ship: A Human History was about more than just the process of trading slaves, how the slaves travelled from Point A to Point B and what the traders did to the slaves during the trip. Rediker’s focus remained mainly on the aspect of the humanity of the slaves and the relationships that were forged between the people aboard the ship. Often it is forgotten that the slaves that were kidnapped and sold into slavery were, in fact, human beings. Instead the focus is directed towards statistics and individual events that happen aboard the ships rather than the names of the slaves and their backgrounds.

    Read More

  • The Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

    1055 Words  | 5 Pages

    During what was considered one of the worst parts of American history, African Americans were enslaved and forced against their will to serve the needs of their masters. This horrid period had an incredible impact on the enslaved African Americas. Considering this, however, were slaves the only people impacted by the dreadful act of slavery? Ultimately, slavery had created an impact on the slaves, and the people who owned them. By forcing slaves to live a life full of discrimination and constant fear, their perspectives had changed caused by living with the burden of slavery.

    Read More

  • Frederick Douglass: Overcoming Obstacles

    392 Words  | 2 Pages

    Douglass encountered multiple harsh realities of being enslaved. For example, the ex-slave was practically starved to death by his masters on multiple occasions. In fact, “[He was] allowed less than a half of a bushel of corn-meal per week, and very little else... It was not enough for [him] to subsist upon... A great many times [he had] been nearly perishing with hunger” (pg 31).

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Diligent

    1541 Words  | 7 Pages

    Similarly, this was the circumstance with many of the slave ships during the Atlantic slave trade. The author then goes on to explain how paranoid slave ship crews were during the Atlantic slave trade because of the fear of a slave revolt. Harms then mentions several other slave ships were slave revolts broke out during the Atlantic slave trade such as: the Marie, the Excellent, the Ameriquin, and the Henry (Harms 270-271). With these examples that the author mentioned in the book, it appears that slave revolts occurred quite often on slave ships during the Atlantic slave trade. For the African captives, a revolt was essential to their survival and possibly their liberation, but to the crew of the slave ship, it meant life or dead, or even lost profits.

    Read More

  • What Are The Most Horrific Conditions Of Olaudah Equiano

    506 Words  | 3 Pages

    A He was tossed and forced onto a foreign boat that was controlled by people, he never seen before. The white people he never seen before would whip him, if he did not eat. All Olaudah saw was all the slaves having fetters around their hands and sometimes around their feet. The slave traders and the ship’s crew were terrifying to him. Equiano thought the slave traders were going to eat them.

    Read More

  • Anthony Johnson's Life In Jamestown, Virginia

    1329 Words  | 6 Pages

    The blacks brought him onboard, then left him abandoned. He became sick and lost his appetite in food and taste. He became suicidal waiting for death. He refused to eat and two white men tied him up and beat him. If you did not eat Africans were cut and hourly whipped, including himself.

    Read More

  • Absolutism And Humanism

    928 Words  | 4 Pages

    I strongly believe that this part of history has been apologetically horrifying for both the victims of slave trade and its perpetrators. It has been the struggle of years which led the Europeans to stand on their feet firmly, from Thomas Hobbes identifying a new political structure to the study of Greek languages. However, the efforts went in vain due to the embarking of Africans to white lands where they were tagged and branded on the chest with labels of their masters to whom they belonged/served. It is evident, in the passage, the way writer describes the anguish and torture as: “When the women and girls are taken on board a ship, naked, trembling, terrified, perhaps almost exhausted with cold, fatigue and hunger, they are often exposed to the wanton rudeness of white savages.” This history shows the origins of racism that we see in today’s world and where it stems from.

    Read More

  • Physical And Mental Effects Of Slavery

    540 Words  | 3 Pages

    I. Introduction: In America, slavery already being a common event on 60s. People who have plantation there usually had many slaves to be commanded. However, slavery made black people in America feel treated and tortured. Black people always used to be a slave and always being under the white people.

    Read More

  • The Hardships Of A Slave: Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

    1306 Words  | 6 Pages

    Slaves were pushed and chastised simply because of the color of their skin, something they had no control over. This book gave no limitations to the image of how slaves were treated. It showed in great detail how they were beaten and tortured by their masters and the white men around them. The details depicted in this story will teach you just how hard it was to have darker skin in the 1800’s. In Douglass’ life as a slave, he endured a lot of suffering from slaveholders, overseers, and slave mistresses.

    Read More

  • African Slave Trade Research Paper

    837 Words  | 4 Pages

    After the long three weeks, the slaves that survived would arrive in the West Indies and would be auctioned off to work for a slave owner. Although the conditions on the boat were horrific, the circumstances would only worse as they arrived at the mines and farms. Many African slaves would be worked to death and beaten by their slave owner. The African slaves also had very little food and very small huts to live in. These conditions that the African slaves endured would continue for the future generations as they were born into

    Read More

More about Olaudah Equiano Research Paper

Open Document