Essay On Olaudah Equiano

Slaves were treated just like animals in the 1700s. Clayton Sutton explains that, “The slaves went through starvation, torture, filth, injustice, and so many other horrors that is it amazing any survived.” This shows how poorly slaves were treated. Slaves were transported from Africa to North America. Olaudah Equiano was one of these slaves. Equiano was kidnapped from West Africa and sold to British slave traders when he was eleven. Olaudah Equiano in his narrative The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano was treated atrociously having to live in bad living conditions, deal with starvation, and were be treated like animals. Equiano was treated horrifically having to live in very unhealthy living conditions in his story The Interesting Narrative …show more content…
Equiano explains that, “One day they [fishermen on the boat] 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.” The slaves were starved and many died from starvation. Lynda Hopkins says that, “At least 2 million Africans--10 to 15 percent--died during their voyage from Africa to North America.” At least one-third of these deaths were from starvation. Slaves were treated and sold like animals in Equiano’s The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Slaves were sold at auctions. John Henry explains this, “Auctions or scrambles were the most popular way to sell slaves. There they were subjected to inspections using the most intimate and humiliating examinations, as if they were animals at market.” So slaves were really treated like animals. Equiano explains it by describing his own experience, “We were not many days in