During the slave trade massacre of 1767, two princes with the name of Little Ephraim Robin John and Ancona Robin John were captured by English slavers in Old Calabar, Africa’s slave port. As a result, the Robin Johns’ story was written by them with firsthand experience of the Atlantic slave trade, which details the role of enslaved Africans, history of determined slaves that seek freedom, and the early British anti-slave movement. Thus, this contributed to the reasons why Robin Johns’ are products of the Atlantic world history and are understood as Atlantic creoles.
In Chapter 1 & 2, it describes the Old Calabar massacre which resulted in the disappearance of the two princes. Also, this ended Old Town’s power of the local slave trade. Reasons …show more content…
One example is the middle passage. Spark notes that African sailors from old calabar played an important role in the Robin Johns’ experience in the Americas. Most importantly, Robin Johns’ had was the knowledge that they could make their way back home by negotiating with the English language and elite merchant/ trading background, which gave them an advantage, compared to most captive slaves from the interior of Africa. pg 73. In addition, since the Robin Johns’ were from Old Calabar they liked food from their country in which they were served, in attempt to lessen the mortality rate. However, many slave captives refused to eat so they would get tortured and sometimes to death. The brothers also remained together and were sold by individual purchase. As a result, they remained together which was very rare in the slave trading …show more content…
As Spark states, “Once again, though their situation looked bleak, the Robin Johns’ were lucky, extremely fortunate that the Greyhound had brought them to Bristol, a hub of the eighteenth-century Atlantic World and one of the most important slave-trading ports in England, where their status as scions of an elite slave-trading family of Old Calabar proved to be their salvation” pg. 91. Thus, Little Ephraim wrote to Thomas Jones, a veteran slave trader who was affiliated with Old Town and Grandy King George. After a few letters, Jones finally responds to the Robin Johns’ and enters a court case which was important in legal history of slavery in England. However, they got arrested and wrote letters to Lord Mansfield. In that case, “Little Ephraim’s literacy and his clever manipulation of the English legal system exemplify the importance of the Atlantic Creoles’ remarkable skills and understanding of the wider Atlantic World” pg 100. Not only that, but they were identified as “free men” but Spark’s notes that, “When it came to parsing law, the Robin Johns proved themselves almost expert as the Lord Chief Justice himself, who agreed that the case hinged on the issues they presented: Had they been legitimately enslaved? Given the records of false ownership that Captain William
In Chapter 1 & 2, it describes the Old Calabar massacre which resulted in the disappearance of the two princes. Also, this ended Old Town’s power of the local slave trade. Reasons …show more content…
One example is the middle passage. Spark notes that African sailors from old calabar played an important role in the Robin Johns’ experience in the Americas. Most importantly, Robin Johns’ had was the knowledge that they could make their way back home by negotiating with the English language and elite merchant/ trading background, which gave them an advantage, compared to most captive slaves from the interior of Africa. pg 73. In addition, since the Robin Johns’ were from Old Calabar they liked food from their country in which they were served, in attempt to lessen the mortality rate. However, many slave captives refused to eat so they would get tortured and sometimes to death. The brothers also remained together and were sold by individual purchase. As a result, they remained together which was very rare in the slave trading …show more content…
As Spark states, “Once again, though their situation looked bleak, the Robin Johns’ were lucky, extremely fortunate that the Greyhound had brought them to Bristol, a hub of the eighteenth-century Atlantic World and one of the most important slave-trading ports in England, where their status as scions of an elite slave-trading family of Old Calabar proved to be their salvation” pg. 91. Thus, Little Ephraim wrote to Thomas Jones, a veteran slave trader who was affiliated with Old Town and Grandy King George. After a few letters, Jones finally responds to the Robin Johns’ and enters a court case which was important in legal history of slavery in England. However, they got arrested and wrote letters to Lord Mansfield. In that case, “Little Ephraim’s literacy and his clever manipulation of the English legal system exemplify the importance of the Atlantic Creoles’ remarkable skills and understanding of the wider Atlantic World” pg 100. Not only that, but they were identified as “free men” but Spark’s notes that, “When it came to parsing law, the Robin Johns proved themselves almost expert as the Lord Chief Justice himself, who agreed that the case hinged on the issues they presented: Had they been legitimately enslaved? Given the records of false ownership that Captain William