Who Was Olaudah Equiano

Decent Essays
Olaudah Equiano was born a free black boy in Eboe, Africa. At a youthful age, be that as it may, both he and his sister were seized from their house, were isolated, and were sold into slavery. Equiano unfortunately was bought and sold from master to master, spent most of his time chained on a slave ship and had close passing encounters while fighting the French at sea. It was not until the point when he went under the ownership of Robert King that he could consider purchasing his own opportunity. He figured out how to profit all over by offering merchandise at a higher cost than he got them, yet it was genuinely the slave exchange that enabled him to acquire enough to get himself. Equiano attempted to win his cash through the markup of merchandise,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Equiano wrote a narrative, therefore a retrospective tone should be expected and unsurprising. However, it is not till the final page that the tone shifts to joyful, having been given his freedom he claims no one could put his feelings into words, but they are unexplainable. He is happier…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Both Rowlandson and Equiano were sold to a series of owners. Rowlandson was sold to various “husbands” while Equiano was sold to a chain of owners taking him from his home to the West Indies. Describing his physical confrontation with multiple overseers, Olaudah Equiano writes, “These overseers are indeed for the most part persons of the worst character of any denomination of men in the West Indies. Unfortunately, many humane gentlemen, by not residing on their estates, are obliged to leave the management of them in the hands of these human butchers, who cut and mangle the slaves in a shocking manner on the most trifling occasions, and altogether treat them in every respect like brutes”(709). Here Equiano is describing how many slaves were…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Olaudah Equiano had similar experiences with Benjamin’s document. Equiano was an African American who was captured and forced to be a slave at a young age. In the Ibo culture it was known that slavery was part of this culture. Many african peoples expected for this cause to happen . However, everyone thought he was going to become a “chief , an elder or a…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his narrative, Olaudah Equiano appeals to wealthy, white Europeans. Assuming that much of the wealth in this part of the world was gained from the slave trade, it only makes sense that Equiano would have liked to inform these wealthy citizens of the horrors he and many other slaves experienced. In sharing his story, Equiano attempts to convince his audience of the fact that all humans deserve equality. The general understanding that he himself came to be in good standing as a free man is his main artillery in gaining freedom and equal rights for other Africans. He is no less of a human than his audience, and no more of a human than other enslaved people.…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Equiano had grown up in a very precise and different environment than Franklin had, his tribal upbringing allowed him to base his foundation of morals and ideals, but was ripped out from under Equiano at a young age. Equaino experienced a much more restricted version of travel than Franklin had, he could not go gallivanting about trying to find his place, Equiano began to latch on to beliefs of those around him, choosing which ones he felt were morally correct. Equiano found himself a form of religion and became more and more devout throughout his life. It can even be argued that Equiano had been forced into religion. The circumstances he was put in left him in the midst of very godly individuals who pushed ideals and morals on him.…

    • 584 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    One of the views that both of these men had was their belief in education and how it can change lives for the better. In Equiano’s autobiography he talks about how, over time, he was able to use his status as a prized slave to his advantage, in order to improve himself by learning. Equiano also says, “I had long wished to be able to read and write; and for this purpose I took every opportunity to gain instruction, but had made as yet very little progress” (368). Skill acquisition such as this throughout his life would eventually lead Equiano to be able to trade and acquire enough money to purchase his freedom from his master, thus bettering his life through…

    • 1043 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Lose Your Mother by Saidya Hartman, Hartman gives the reader a unique perspective on the institution of slavery than is often examined. This work begins to question our previous knowledge of the slave trade and forces us to look at the story from a perspective that as a society we may not want to acknowledge. Her work demands a deeper understanding of the institution of slavery be known and no longer allows society to perpetuate the misunderstandings of slavery and Africa that we have been perpetuating since the trade started. Often we are taught slavery from a Western perspective; we discuss how America prospered from the industry and how devastating the institution treated the individuals it captured.…

    • 1285 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Equiano’s unassuming explanation of himself and his objective paints his character as unpretentious and ultimately fuels his modest traits as a sentimental hero. In his narrative, Equiano begins with detailing his origins as a way of inhabiting the role of the noble African. He writes, ‘My father was one of those elders or chiefs I have spoken of, and was styled Embrenché; a term, as I remember, importing the highest distinction, and signifying in…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In chapter five, Equiano talks how he has been traded many of times and is outright sick of it and wants nothing to do with slavery. When he left Montserrat he described his feelings right after he was brought…

    • 1724 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He was the youngest son of a village leader, Equiano was born among the Ibo people in the kingdom of Benin, along the Niger River. Equiano's father was the leader of their tribe. Equiano's family ironically owned slaves. Equiano and his sister were captured with the children. Equiano was separate from his sister and he was sent to the coast and put on a slave ship.…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Aphra Behn and Olaudah Equiano use their respective works, Oroonoko and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself, to attack the theory of imperialism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The term imperialism is defined by James Tully as a trifecta of arguments in support of European superiority in foreign countries: firstly, that all other cultures are inferior, secondly, that the course of nature will Europeanize all cultures, and lastly, that it is the duty of Europeans to bring their culture to others. Behn, a female writer in Britain in the 1600’s, and Equiano, a former slave in the 1700’s, both write with decidedly abolitionist undertones, both being very forward-thinking…

    • 1159 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Olaudah Equiano Thesis

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Olaudah Equiano, a victim to the malicious slave trade, gives vivid detail and insight into the world of slavery from a slave’s point of view. The article studied was written by Equiano himself, an Ibo prince who was seized from his homeland of Africa and thrust into a cruel life of bondage at the age of only eleven. Equiano writes of the hardship of his voyage overseas in the late years of the seventeenth century. Part of his story is shared in this article, the story of an African male going from slavery to freedom. He records and shares his story in 1789 as he worked to further the Church of England after purchasing his freedom from a Quaker merchant.…

    • 528 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Portugal

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Portugal’s Influence on The Kingdom of Kongo The slave trade has been argued to be one of the world’s most disastrous eras and its history is deeply rooted in Central-West Africa. In the early 16th century, The Kingdom of Kongo’s ruler, King Afonso I, addressed the King of Portugal in a series of letters where he expressed his concerns about their interconnected trading system; in which merchandise and slaves were exchanged between both states. Portugal noticed the naivety of the Kongo’s leader so they continued to depopulate their land which led to The Kingdom of Kongo’s gradual decline.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In 1789, Olaudah Equiano published his autobiography entitled, The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African. The purpose of the book was to aid the abolitionists in their struggle to abolish slavery. From the beginning of the book, it is apparent that the intended audience of the book are Christians. A quote from the book of Isaiah, containing “Behold, God is my salvation ,” preluded Equiano’s narrative that detailed his life, beginning with his kidnapping as a young boy in Africa, the voyage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean Islands, and his adventures travelling the world as a slave aboard one of England’s warships. In fact, Equiano’s book established a large audience among Christians and some English royalty, which is clear by the attached list of subscribers to the narrative.…

    • 1362 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Did the discovery of the New World make the world a better place? During the discovery of the New World and colonization of the Americas, the world was not a better place. This discovery it led to catastrophic events occurred an exchange of diseases that resulted in a dramatic decrease in the Native American population. Because of this decrease in the Native American population, Europeans were now left without a strong source of labor which resulted in the start of the act of African slavery in the Americas. With African slavery as a source of labor, many countries were able to build their territories and wanted to gain more power in North America.…

    • 1302 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays