While I was in this astonishment, one of my fellow prisoners spoke to a countryman of his, about the horses, who said they were the same kind they had in their country. 1, 7088. O, ye nominal Christians! Olaudah Equiano's account recalls his journey as an 11-year-old captive aboard a slave ship from Africa to Barbados in 1756. Lent by the National Museum of African American History and The Middle Passage itself lasted roughly 80 days on ships ranging from small schooners to massive, purpose-built "slave ships." Ship crews packed humans together on or below decks without space to sit up or move around. First-person accounts of the Middle Passage are very rare. Throughout the years of being a slaves he was treated very nicely and became a very valuable slave to his masters. When he was about ten years old, he was kidnapped by Africans known as Aros and sold into slavery. Answers: 1. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers. However, two of the wretches were drowned, but they got the other, and afterwards flogged him unmercifully, for thus attempting to prefer death to slavery. PART B: Which paragraph provides the best support for the answer to Part A? In his narrative, Equiano discusses the miseries of the slave trade. Some of these documents have been edited, but all are authentic. This report eased us much. Equiano became an abolitionist and began to record his life story after being freed. When Vincent Carretta argued in "Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa? Years later he was able to buy his freedom and became an Happily perhaps, for myself, I was soon reduced so low here that it was thought necessary to keep me almost always on deck; and. Many merchants and planters now came on board, though it was in the evening. . . Olaudah Equiano Recalls the Middle Passage 1789 Olaudah Equiano (17451797), also known as Gustavus Vassa, was born in Benin (in west Africa). Olaudah Equiano was a slave during the 0000003156 00000 n
Many merchants and planters now came on board, though it was in the evening. Slaves were deprived of basic human rights and many tried to kill themselves because they would rather face death than their captors Hard labor made tobacco, rice, and sugar plantations profitable. This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable, and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. 0000004361 00000 n
"The Middle Passage" from "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Myself" is a traumatic narrative of the horrors suffered by the Africans slaves of the 18th century, which has touched my heart. One of the blacks therefore took it from him and gave it to me, and I took a little down my palate, which, instead of reviving me, as they thought it would, threw me into the greatest consternation at the strange feeling it produced, having never tasted any such liquor before. I was immediately handled, and tossed up to see if I were sound, by some of the crew; and I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me. 2 vols. 2 vols. %PDF-1.5
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However, two of the wretches were drowned, but they got the other, and afterwards flogged him unmercifully, for thus attempting to prefer death to slavery. 0000002932 00000 n
might not an African ask you Learned you this from your God, who says unto you, Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you? This was the first slave narrative to reveal such detailed effects on one victim of the slave trade and provides an interesting insight into a time where few people survived to . O, ye nominal Christians! Written by Himself is a slave narrative in which the author recounts his childhood, capture, life as an enslaved person, and emancipation. DuBois on Black Progress (1895, 1903), Jane Addams, The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements (1892), Eugene Debs, How I Became a Socialist (April, 1902), Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Alice Stone Blackwell, Answering Objections to Womens Suffrage (1917), Theodore Roosevelt on The New Nationalism (1910), Woodrow Wilson Requests War (April 2, 1917), Emma Goldman on Patriotism (July 9, 1917), W.E.B DuBois, Returning Soldiers (May, 1919), Lutiant Van Wert describes the 1918 Flu Pandemic (1918), Manuel Quezon calls for Filipino Independence (1919), Warren G. Harding and the Return to Normalcy (1920), Crystal Eastman, Now We Can Begin (1920), Marcus Garvey, Explanation of the Objects of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (1921), Hiram Evans on the The Klans Fight for Americanism (1926), Herbert Hoover, Principles and Ideals of the United States Government (1928), Ellen Welles Page, A Flappers Appeal to Parents (1922), Huey P. Long, Every Man a King and Share our Wealth (1934), Franklin Roosevelts Re-Nomination Acceptance Speech (1936), Second Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1937), Lester Hunter, Id Rather Not Be on Relief (1938), Bertha McCall on Americas Moving People (1940), Dorothy West, Amateur Night in Harlem (1938), Charles A. Lindbergh, America First (1941), A Phillip Randolph and Franklin Roosevelt on Racial Discrimination in the Defense Industry (1941), Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga on Japanese Internment (1942/1994), Harry Truman Announcing the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima (1945), Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945), Dwight D. Eisenhower, Atoms for Peace (1953), Senator Margaret Chase Smiths Declaration of Conscience (1950), Lillian Hellman Refuses to Name Names (1952), Paul Robesons Appearance Before the House Un-American Activities Committee (1956), Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), Richard Nixon on the American Standard of Living (1959), John F. Kennedy on the Separation of Church and State (1960), Congressman Arthur L. Miller Gives the Putrid Facts About Homosexuality (1950), Rosa Parks on Life in Montgomery, Alabama (1956-1958), Barry Goldwater, Republican Nomination Acceptance Speech (1964), Lyndon Johnson on Voting Rights and the American Promise (1965), Lyndon Johnson, Howard University Commencement Address (1965), National Organization for Women, Statement of Purpose (1966), George M. Garcia, Vietnam Veteran, Oral Interview (1969/2012), Fannie Lou Hamer: Testimony at the Democratic National Convention 1964, Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968), Statement by John Kerry of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (1971), Barbara Jordan, 1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address (1976), Jimmy Carter, Crisis of Confidence (1979), Gloria Steinem on Equal Rights for Women (1970), First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan (1981), Jerry Falwell on the Homosexual Revolution (1981), Statements from The Parents Music Resource Center (1985), Phyllis Schlafly on Womens Responsibility for Sexual Harassment (1981), Jesse Jackson on the Rainbow Coalition (1984), Bill Clinton on Free Trade and Financial Deregulation (1993-2000), The 9/11 Commission Report, Reflecting On A Generational Challenge (2004), George W. Bush on the Post-9/11 World (2002), Pedro Lopez on His Mothers Deportation (2008/2015), Chelsea Manning Petitions for a Pardon (2013), Emily Doe (Chanel Miller), Victim Impact Statement (2015). The events he will recount, no matter how horrifying, are normal for people like him. Several of the strangers also shook hands with us black people, and made motions with their hands, signifying I suppose, we were to go to their country, but we did not understand them. It emphasizes the inhumane conditions the slaves were forced to endure at the hands of European cruelty. I could not help expressing my fears and apprehensions to some of my countrymen; I asked them if these people had no country, but lived in this hollow place (the ship)? Why is the 3-to-5 ratio significant in fashion? Is it not enough that we are torn from our country and friends, to toil for your luxury and lust of gain? What struck me first, was, that the houses were built with bricks, in stories, and in every other respect different from those I had seen in Africa; but I was still more astonished on seeing people on horseback. 0000002469 00000 n
Pellentesque dapibus efficitur laoreet. I asked them if we were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces, and long hair. This . Often did I think many of the inhabitants of the deep much more happy than myself; I envied them the freedom they enjoyed, and as often wished I could change my condition for theirs. Working from measurements of a Liverpool slave ship, a Expert Answers. Olaudah Equiano's first-person account recalls his terrifying journey as an 11-year-old captive aboard a slave ship from Africa to Barbados in 1756. The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast, was the sea, and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo. This text comes from Equiano's biography. Amazon Music Stream millions 0000001900 00000 n
The Middle Passage, as written by Olaudah Equiano in The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, refers to the inhumane conditions enslaved Africans were carried to the New World. I then was a little revived, and thought, if it were no worse than working, my situation was not so desperate; but still I feared I should be put to death, the white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen among any people such instances of brutal cruelty; and this not only shown towards us blacks, but also to some of the whites themselves. Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. PART A: As it is used in paragraph 6, the phrase "improvident avarice" most nearly means: PART B: Which evidence provides the best support to the answer to Part A? Donec aliquet. Fusce dui lectus, congue vel laoreet ac, dictum vitae odio. In this narrative it explains the process of Equiano taken from his native land of Africa. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. While I was in this astonishment, one of my fellow prisoners spoke to a countryman of his, about the horses, who said they were the same kind they had in their country. Source: Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The Interesting Narrative of the
We were conducted immediately to the merchants yard, where we were all pent up together, like so many sheep in a fold, without regard to sex or age. Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. PART B: Which paragraph provides the best support for the answer to Part A? One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen who were chained together (I was near them at the time), preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the nettings and jumped into the sea; immediately, another quite dejected fellow, who, on account of his illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same, if they had not been prevented by the ships crew, who were instantly alarmed. This famous plan has appeared in almost every study of the Middle Passage One day, when we had a smooth sea, and a moderate wind, two of my wearied countrymen, who were chained together (I was near them at the time), preferring death to such a life of misery, somehow made through the nettings, and jumped into the sea: immediately another quite dejected fellow, who, on account of his illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would soon have done the same, if they had not been prevented by the ships crew, who were instantly alarmed. I had often with astonishment seen the mariners make observations with it, and I could not think what it meant. Olaudah Equiano, who was a captive slave of the middle passage, described his first encounter of Europeans was just as shocking. startxref
A ) It suggests that sanitation on the ship was not as much a priority for the Europeans as was profit. "my present situation, which was filled with horrors of every kind, still heightened by my ignorance of what I was to undergo" (Paragraph 3). Evaluating quality. had they any like themselves? In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of death, which I began to hope would soon put an end to my miseries. . Source: Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror, when I was carried on board. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. the Brooks carried 609 on a voyage in 1786. xref
When I recovered a little, I found some black people about me, who I believed were some of those who had brought me on board, and had been receiving their pay; they talked to me in order to cheer me, but all in vain. PART B: Which of the following quotations supports the answer to Part A? This heightened my wonder; and I was now more persuaded than ever, that I was in another world, and that every thing about me was magic. bracket: Buying and enslaving the people who supplied this labor ultimately became a lucrative and tragic part of the commerce in the maritime web that connected Europe, Africa, and the Americas. These ankle shackles are of the type used to restrain enslaved people aboard The Middle Passage - Olaudah Equiano Equiano Endures the Middle Passage This extract, taken from Chapter Two of the Interesting Narrative , describes some of the young Equiano's experiences on board a slave ship in the 'Middle Passage': the journey between Africa and the New World. I had never experienced anything of this kind before, and, although not being used to the water, I naturally feared that element the first time I saw it, yet, nevertheless, could I have got over the nettings, I would have jumped over the side, but I could not; and besides, the crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained down to the decks, lest we should leap into the water; and I have seen some of these poor African prisoners most severely cut, for attempting to do so, and hourly whipped for not eating. 0000003181 00000 n
Your Recalls and Product Safety Alerts; Amazon Assistant; Help; English United States. This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable, and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. The customs are very different from those of England, but he also makes the case for their similarity to traditions of the Jews, even suggesting that Jews and Africans share a common heritage.