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Captivity And Enslavement, By Olaudah Equiano

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17.1 Captivity and Enslavement, Olaudah Equiano, the interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano written by himself 1. What are Equiano’s impressions of the white men on the ship and their treatment of the slaves? How does this treatment reflect the slave traders’ primary concerns? Equiano’s first impression of these white men is a feeling of uncertainty and sorrow for the future. As his story goes on Equiano is afraid of these white men, but also he is wishing to end it all because of the conditions and treatment of the slaves. Equiano writes how the white men would throw the dead over board as if they were basically trash, slaves were beaten severely if they refused to eat or tried to escape. These severe acts of punishment …show more content…

According to this document, what are the fundamental roles of government and the individual citizen? According to this document, the fundamental roles of the government was to make sure their citizens were seen as equal in rights and in religious tolerance. Also, citizens should be treated fairly for example, when in prison and on trial. Finally, the government had to make sure that citizens had secure foundational rights such as speaking freely and expressing political concerns. The fundamental roles of the individual citizen were to exercise these rights such as expressing their opinion in both speaking in public (freedom of speech, 11) and in deciding on things such as taxes (speaking to a representative,14). 3. How does the document define political sovereignty, and how is this definition related to the deputies’ collective sense of identity and …show more content…

Overall the decree is stressing that the slaves are now free French people. So these regulations and laws can reveal that the Europeans would be hesitant in following through with accepting the slaves as equal citizens rather than seeing them as unpaid laborers owned by the Europeans. The decree was crafted in a sort of structure that what was written is what is to be followed, the decree is black and white, no gray areas, and no loopholes. The decree is broken down by recalling “The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen” and after follows the proclamation that slaves were free French citizens, and then laid out specific detailed laws to follow when it came to employing, paying and treatment of the newly freed slaves in

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Olaudah Equiano begins his journal entry by describing the ocean and the slave ship, which were the first things he saw when he was taken onto the slave ship. He was fascinated by them, but he soon realized that it was going to be a horrific journey. Equiano’s first thought was that they were going to kill him, for they had a different skin tone, bore long hair, and spoke a different language. The crew beat Olaudah when he refused to eat. The conditions under the deck where Equiano lived were dreadful: people were packed together so tightly that they were fighting for breathing room.

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The autobiography of Olaudah Equiano, also known as Gustavus Vass, was first published in 1789. However, his exert from the narrative, “An African captive describes the middle passage” puts slave trade into perspective. This writing accounts for the horrible mistreatment of Equiano and other slaves along with him during his journey across the middle passage. “I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native country” [Document Collection 23]. Olaudah Equiano was kidnapped from his homeland in Nigeria and sold to slave traders heading west.

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Olaudah Equiano arrived at the coast where he first saw the sea and a slave ship. He was carried onto the slave ship where he felt that bad spirits were around and the people there wanted to kill him. Equiano was generally fearful of everything on the ship, especially when he noticed that the crew looked and spoke differently than was used to. Horrors of the ship overpowered Equiano and he fainted on the deck. After awakening, Equiano realized that he has no change of returning to his native country.

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Equiano was nearly kidnapped into being a slave while loading a ship to

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Once intercepted by the local South Carolina militia, they battled and 20 whites were killed and double that of African rebels were also murdered. Due to this rebellion/revolt and the fear of more revolts, laws with even harsher slave codes were enacted. One act to come out the Stono Rebellion was the “Negro Act of 1740”, which restricted slave assembly, movement, and education. This act also restricted the importation of slaves directly from Africa for 10 years because the Africans were beginning to outnumber the whites. Slave owners who treated their slaves too harshly were subject to fines under the Negro Act in a way to implicit the idea that harsh treatment might contribute to rebellion.

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Equiano described the horrors of a slave ship based on his firsthand experience. He describes what it was like to be thrown onto a ship, the indescribable smell of being crammed on the deck with so many other slaves, and the floggings he and the other slaves received for not eating. The slaves were so tightly packed together the air was dangerous to breath, and many of the slaves became sick and died from it, while others suffocated to death. Men were pushed to the brink of starvation, tried to steal food, and were severely flogged for it. Others tried to jump overboard and drown rather than accept their life of misery.

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689 Words | 3 Pages

In his book, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, African author Olaudah Equiano wrote about his life and experiences after being sold into the slave trade. Equiano used his writing to expose the horrors of slavery and the agony he and other slaves faced. He wrote with the hope that by exposing the horrors that slaves endure, people would realize how wicked slavery was and put an end to it. Equiano spoke about his encounters with white men in the Middle Passage and how he was terrified of them in chapter two of his book. As they examined him when he initially boarded the ship, he described how he was terrified: "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."

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751 Words | 4 Pages

n the Interesting Narrative, the life of Olaudah Equiano, he describes his experiences aboard a ship to the Americas as a slave. Although everyone aboard is frightened, Olaudah seems to stay on the lookout for the positive, just hoping something good will happen even after he is separated from his family. He pays close attention to the whites and everything going on around him. He seems to feel everything very deeply and has lots of morals but, is extremely exhausted emotionally and physically. I believe Olaudah is an extremely kind and generous person with lots of spiritual growth.

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588 Words | 3 Pages

Olaudah Equiano was one of the most famous black men in the history of slavery who was lucky enough to purchase his freedom by himself. Equiano was highly popular for his autobiography named The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African. This is an interesting autobiographywhich was published in 1789 and it emphasized various aspects of slavery throughout the entire book. In The Interesting Narrative, Olaudah Equiano uses poetic diction and tone ( sadistic) to illustrate his perspective as a slave by portraying the cruality and brutality of slavery. Equiano was very disappointed with his master’s betrayal.

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The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is an enticing tale of Douglas as he changes from slave to man. Near the beginning of the book, his first witness of a whipping reveals the entrance to the horrors that would come throughout his experience with enslavement. “No words, no tears, no prayers, from his gory victim…” (4) it displays the physical, emotional, and spiritual breaking of an individual; powerful words to create an understanding of the terror of slavery. Beating into absolute submission strikes a sense of sadness, pity, justice in the reader that encourages them to see slavery in a different light. Throughout his narrative he continues to attack these points to encourage similar feelings of pity and acknowledgement “to enlighten white readers about both the realities of slavery as an institution and the humanity of black people as individuals deserving of full human rights.”.

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143 Words | 1 Pages

The Colonial punishments were always public to humiliate other slaves. Punishments for violation of laws ranged up to 20 lashes. Black slaves were singled out for punishment by whipping if they broke street lamps. Colonist had tremendous controls over the slaves. The punishments were cruel and cold-blooded even for a small mistake.

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742 Words | 3 Pages

The Desire for Freedom Mary prince had suffered from an unfortunate life, she was worked to the bone and kept like an animal, but even in her worse of times she never gave up hope. Olaudah Equiano had also suffered from slavery, but in his case it was a more fortunate one, he was more of a witness of such crimes against slaves, during the middle passage Equiano speaks of the horrors he saw, the smells, the ear wrenching cries and the overall atmosphere of the ship’s hull, where Mary herself was the one taking on the punishment for even the smallest infractions from her slave masters. When it comes to both of their stories, they both decided that they were stories that should be told, not just so they could tell it, but so people knew of such ways other

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Contrary to what Aristotle thought women’s role to be in society which was not a primary role as a citizen but a supportive one (58), women and children played a massive role in Algerians’ fight for independence. Without them, it could be argued, that they could not have been able to achieve independence. Hence, different perception of the citizenship leads to different assumptions of citizen rights. Not only this, but depending on how strong the beliefs of one being a citizen possessing certain rights are, the others can be overshadowed and overcome by them. In this example, Algerians’ strong belief of their citizenship did not help them capitulate and they kept fighting for independence until they finally gained independence from others – the French.

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632 Words | 3 Pages

“[The slave trade] is one of history’s most horrific chapters, showing the human capacity for both cruelty and insensitivity [as well as] strength and survival,” says The Middle Passage by Recovered Histories. In his narrative, Equiano discusses the miseries of the slave trade. Specifically in this section, the Middle Passage is told from his first-hand account. Several horrific facts have been revealed about the slave trade since slavery was dissolved over a hundred and fifty years ago. There are several stark, horrific facts about the Middle Passage which are revealed through historic facts as well as Equiano’s narrative.

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Government involvement in individual rights is a heavily argued topic in current society. While some people insist more regulations are necessary to keep society stable, others argue individual rights should not be decided by the government even though the purpose is to ensure the stability of a society. Individuals do not consider the information that is manipulated and the ability of the media to shape the audience’s viewpoint. Everything anyone watches on television is produced to convince people of something without them being aware. Consider the social class system, it is an arbitrary system that people in higher classes ensure the stability of to feel more important and in control.

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