Dishonesty In Olaudah Equiano's Life

Although slavery was a widely practiced act by many civilizations in the past, it continues to remain a disheartening time in American history. A history that millions of Americans either lived through, read about, or will eventually be taught to understand the importance it played in the development of the nation. Fortunately, the personal accounts of many slaves have been recorded to forever be used to teach that period in history. Slaves such as Olaudah Equiano, whose memoirs help recount this important era in the nation’s history. It has been suggested that Olaudah Equiano was not born in Africa as he claims and therefore some believe renders his work with a tinge of dishonesty and deception. However, no matter the origination of his birth, Olaudah Equiano’s account as a slave in the American colonies has and will continue to play a substantial part in the teaching of early American history and literature. Most accounts of Olaudah Equiano’s birthplace and life share the same narrative. Born in 1745 in a part of Nigeria, that was once known as Eboe, he was captured and forced into slavery at the age of eleven (Perkins 162). Equiano suffered the hardship of Middle Passage before arriving in the West Indies. Fortunately, his intellect did not go unnoticed by his masters, they realized his potential and trained him to read, write, and …show more content…
He effectively details the story of bondage that hundreds of thousands could not tell for themselves. Through his memoirs and beyond, Equiano continued to fight for the fair treatment and freedom of slaves both in American and England. If Equiano did lie about his beginnings, it was only a means to tell the world the horrendous truths that slavery brought. It is, for these reasons that no matter his place of birth he tells a story that only he could tell, in a way that only he could tell it, and at a time in which it needed to be