Soon after this the other ship got her boats out, and they came on board of us, and the people of both ships seemed very glad to see each other. 0000070593 00000 n "the first object which saluted my eyes when I arriveda slave ship, these filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted in to terror" (Vassa 57). Equianos narrative is informative; however, it is critical of the treatment of slaves and persuasive in its appeals to end the brutal treatment of African Americans. Date Posted: At last we came in sight of the island of Barbadoes, at which the whites on board gave a great shout, and made many signs of joy to us. 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. 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. 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. The Kingdom of Benin was located along the western cost of Africa, which was a common route of European slave traders who then transported the slaves to the New World. 23 58 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). Olaudah Equiano's first-person account recalls his terrifying journey as an 11-year-old captive aboard a slave ship from Africa to Barbados in 1756. Must every tender feeling be likewise sacrificed to your avarice? Olaudah Equiano Describes the Horrors of the Middle Passage, 1780s. Duration: 12 minutes Those of us that were the most active, were in a moment put down under the deck; and there was such a noise and confusion amongst the people of the ship as I never heard before, to stop her, and get the boat out to go after the slaves. One day, when we had a smooth sea, and a 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 soon have done the same, if they had not been prevented by the ships crew, who were instantly alarmed. Every circumstance I met with, served only to render my state more painful, and heightened my apprehensions, and my opinion of the cruelty of the whites. This, and the stench of the necessary tubs, carried off many. You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes. 4B: Obtain historical data from a variety of sources. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. In one of the largest forced migrations in human history, up to 12 million Africans were sold as slaves to Europeans and shipped to the Americas. Their complexions, too, differing so much from ours, their long hair, and the language they spoke (which was very different from any I had ever heard), united to confirm me in this belief. After a few months, a merchant and naval officer, Michael Henry Pascal, came to visit Equianos master and liked the look of Equiano. CommonLit is a nonprofit that has everything teachers and schools need for top-notch literacy instruction: a full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and formative data. 0000011561 00000 n After a time, Equiano grew restless and decided he could make more money at sea, so he worked on a number of voyages. They gave me to understand, we were to be carried to these white peoples country to work for them. Furthermore, although much of Equianos story centered on his extensive sea travel, his harmonious mixture of formal and informal word choices along with the lack of the technical terminology commonly associated with sailors helps the general audience, As stated in The Classic Slave Narratives: The Life of Gustavus Vassa, a sense of bewilderment and fright was his first response upon arriving at the coast. What struck me first, was, that the houses were built with bricks, in stories, and in every other respect different from those I had seen in Africa; but I was still more astonished on seeing people on horseback. What is fascinating about Olaudah Equiano's discussion of the Middle Passage is that, as a man who had been enslaved in Africa prior to being shipped as a slave to the Americas, he was in a unique position to describe slavery in Africa with his introduction to European-influenced slavery in North America. 0000070323 00000 n Title: Microsoft Word - Olaudah Equiano Recalls the Middle Passage Author . I remember, in the vessel in which I was brought over, in the mens apartment, there were several brothers, who, in the sale, were sold in different lots; and it was very moving on this occasion, to see and hear their cries at parting. One day they had taken a number of fishes; and when they had killed and satisfied themselves with as many as they thought fit, to our astonishment who were on deck, rather than give any of them to us to eat, as we expected, they tossed the remaining fish into the sea again, although we begged and prayed for some as well as we could, but in vain; and some of my countrymen, being pressed by hunger, took an opportunity, when they thought no one saw them, of trying to get a little privately; but they were discovered, and the attempt procured them some very severe floggings. In a little time after, amongst the poor chained men, I found some of my own nation, which in a small degree gave ease to my mind. Still, King and Farmer cajoled him into staying with them as an employee, to which he agreed. 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. In addition, Equianos use of imagery clearly depicts the journey of the Africans slaves, such as 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" (45). B ) It implies that the slaves were kept dirty so as to He was entranced and frightened, too, by the strange workings of the ship, which seemed to him to be driven by magic. Equiano does this through a series of questions. had they any like themselves? 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. From the early days of the American colonies, forced labor and slavery grew to become a central part of colonial economic and labor systems. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. However, Pascal betrayed Equiano by preventing him from leaving the ship and forcing him into yet another form of slavery under Captain James Doran. The noise and clamor with which this is attended, and the eagerness visible in the countenances of the buyers, serve not a little to increase the apprehension of terrified Africans, who may well be supposed to consider them as the ministers of that destruction to which they think themselves devoted.
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