Olaudah Equiano

Biographical Notes:

Born in Nigeria / Guinea / Senegal --> Angola

The Atlantic Rim

His father had slaves -- difference of African slavery

He was first captured by African slave traders

Later renamed Gustavus Vassa

"No black voice before Frederick Douglass spoke so movingly to American readers about inhumanity" (NAAL).

"In a literature replete with self-made figures who voyage from innocence to experience (some fictive, some not), Equiano's story stands -- in view of the actual horrors he suffered -- in a class quite by itself" (NAAL).

He defined himself as an African, not African-American, not Anglo-African.

Robert King did make it possible for Equiano to purchase his own freedom in 1766 (1766-1745 = 21 years old)

Once he gained his freedom, he never set foot on America soil again.

Skills: free servant, musician, barber, seaman

Lectured widely on the abolition of slavery

Text Notes:

Study the first paragraph carefully -- persona, purpose, audience, etc.

Look for comparisons of humans to animals (brutes) and animal imagery

Look for elements of superstitions / magic / spirits

The sea coast

On the ship

Look for references to Providences / Fate / Chance / Destiny

Look for references to God

Equiano's similarities to Franklin:

• Writing at the request of friends

• Wants to improve himself

• Good conduct

• Moral instruction

• Good character

• Making money

• Hard work (industry)

Authorial Intrusions -- directly addresses readers

Strategies of slave-holding:

• Separate brother from sister

• Floggings

• Sexual suffering of females

• Selling without warning

• On the ship

• Empty promises of freedom

• Being sold is a punishment

• Laws don't apply to slaves

• There are different "classes" of slaves

• Lynching

• Overseers

"Nominal Christians" -- paradox? inconsistency? irony? -- profess one thing and do the opposite

Equiano often "plays right into their hands" -- a vicious cycle -- "he doubles his efforts" / "he does all he could"

Robert King, a Quaker merchant, who traded in "live cargo":

Quakers:

• A member of the Society of Friends

• A Christian denomination founded in England in the 17th century (1600s)

• Rejects formal sacraments, ministry, and creed

• Committed to pacifism

• At meetings, members are encouraged to speak when the feel moved to do so (their bodies would "quake")

• See also Elizabeth Ashbridge and John Woolman

Study Ideas:

References to the Rev. George Whitefield -- see Benjamin Franklin and Phillis Wheatley

Consider connections to the Enlightenment period:

• Human rights

• Self-made figures

Consider connections to Benjamin Franklin and Samson Occom

Consider Occom and Equiano as "newcomers" to the "canon":

• Why should we read Occom? What should we look for? What can we take away?

• Why should we read Equiano? What should we look for? What can we take away?

• What makes them different than the other writers? Why are they included? Why are we reading them?

• Which one did you like better? Why?

Consider the various literary genres (of the Enlightenment) that this text might fall into:

• Autobiography -- compare to Benjamin Franklin and Samson Occom

• Rags-to-Riches Tale -- compare to Benjamin Franklin

• Picaresque Novel -- compare to Cervantes' Don Quixote

• Captivity Narratives -- compare to John Smith and Mary Rowlandson

• Slavery Narratives -- compare to Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs