An 18th Century Slave Narrative Summary

The second primary source, “An Eighteenth Century Slave Narrative,” was written by Gustavus Vassa. In London during 1789, Olaudah Equiano, named Gustavus Vassa by one of his proprietors, gained an education and published his story of when he was a slave. He and his sister were kidnapped from the Kingdom of Benin, now known as Nigeria, when he was eleven. He was transported by British slave traders from Africa to Barbados, then Virginia, as a slave. When Equiano first encountered a slave ship and white men, he refused to eat and he was flogged. He and the other slaves on the ship encountered an arduous nightmare. He emphasizes the unimaginable conditions of the slaves' experience: the "air soon became unfit for respiration" the "filth of the necessary tubs, into which children often fell and were suffocated" (Vassa, 47) causing many people to die on the ships. When the ship reached Barbados, slave traders bought the best slaves in a merchant's yard. They purchased most of the slaves. Without hesitation, slaves were separated from their friends and family, and some never see each other again. There was no buyer, however, for the young Equiano. Nearly two weeks after his arrival, he was shipped to Virginia, where he was procured and provided …show more content…
The distinction is that indentured servants work on written contracts, contracts that lasted for 4 to 7 years and were awarded with land or material things. Contrarily, slavery was based on heredity- relating to the mother, manumission (freeing of slaves) was rare, and New World slavery is racial slavery. Whereas, chattel slaves were seen as legal property which can be purchased, sold or inherited. Slaves did not have to power to decide for themselves because their minds were controlled by their