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Olaudah Equiano Research Paper

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Being Taken into Slavery Although the African Americans of all ages were confused about the horrible things happening to them, some of them stayed strong. The hard life that the African Americans went through were horrific. The many trials and tribulations they faced only seemed to get worse as their “initiation” into slavery continued. The brutality African Americans faced while being taken into slavery was just the beginning of the terror. First, slave traders, or those in service of slave traders, would find, many times, isolated villages to attack. The whites would go into villages and raid them for the strong men that could be a hard worker for them. African Americans would be sleeping in their beds at night And they would be suddenly …show more content…

One account of being taken upon a slave ship comes from Gustavus Vassa (also known as Olaudah Equiano). As relived through his autobiography The Interesting Life of Olaudah Equiano, Vassa details his experience boarding the ships as horrifying. Thrown aboard a ship, Vassa found himself at once terrified. As he recovered, he found other black people around him. Never having seen Whites before, Vassa had no idea what was going to happen to him. Confused by his unfamiliar surroundings, Gustavus asked those around him if he was going be eaten by the crew of the ship. Vassa’s experiences were very representative of what others faced (The Slave …show more content…

There were many typical, and horrifying, circumstances one might see on a slave ship. The men and boys were stripped and shackled together two-by-two. They were put in the hold of the ship which was dark and unsanitary(The Slave Trade). The quarters of the slaves which they were at on the ship's crammed so they could carry more African Americans. Women and children weren’t chained up and they quarters were different then the mens. All of the slaves slept on bare wood and the motion of the ship caused the elbows of the slaves to wear down to the bone. There were two different philosophies among the slave ship captain which were the “loose packers” and the “tight packers (The Slave Trade). The loose packers thought carrying less African American would mean more of them survive the voyage and they would get more money out of them. Tight packers thought more money would come out of overcrowding the hold of the ship and if a few slaves die they die. If the weather is good they will allow the slaves to come out on the deck just during the day. Many slaves died of measles, smallpox, malaria, and dysentery (The Slave

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1. Gustavus Vassa described the people as white men with horrible looks, red faces, and long hair. 2. When Gustavus Vassa realized he was going to become a slave he was filled with so much horror and anger he passed out. 3.

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The blacks brought him onboard, then left him abandoned. He became sick and lost his appetite in food and taste. He became suicidal waiting for death. He refused to eat and two white men tied him up and beat him. If you did not eat Africans were cut and hourly whipped, including himself.

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Many slaves being shipped to America had been betrayed by their own race, kidnapped and sold into slavery. The conditions on the ship were horrendous and each man was chained to an area and given about six feet long by fifteen inches wide. The boats were extremely packed with close corners and no bathroom, and women or children got even less space than the men. Many a times, the crew tried to justify the chaining by stating the it was a form of protection to avoid an uprising. In one of the examples Rediker gave, the slave ship, with Captain Tomba, who was known for brutal beatings including whipping, handing out cruel punishments to scare the other slaves into not acting out.

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The ships provide Douglass with a sickening feeling. The ships force him to understand his condition and how he is forever tied there, wishing to be as free as the ships one day. He knew the truth that “[they] move merrily before the gentle gale, [while he] before the bloody whip”! He sets a jealous tone knowing “They [were] loosened from [their] moorings, and are free; [yet he is] fast in [his] chains and are a slave”. Douglass constantly highlights their difference in freedom.

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Marcus Rediker’s The Slave Ship: A Human History was about more than just the process of trading slaves, how the slaves travelled from Point A to Point B and what the traders did to the slaves during the trip. Rediker’s focus remained mainly on the aspect of the humanity of the slaves and the relationships that were forged between the people aboard the ship. Often it is forgotten that the slaves that were kidnapped and sold into slavery were, in fact, human beings. Instead the focus is directed towards statistics and individual events that happen aboard the ships rather than the names of the slaves and their backgrounds.

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Many slave owners treated African Americans like animals. As an example, they starved their slaves while they gave all the food to their visitors. It is cruel how they didn’t save even a bread for each of their slaves. Not to mention, African Americans had to sleep on a sheet instead of a bed and that is all they had to sleep. The clothing they had was also very little and poor.

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To be sold into slavery or to be eaten by a shark: The Slave Ship begins with the story of a woman who must make this fateful decision. The author tricks the reader twice, first by making us think that this woman fated to death by a shark or the slave trade will be the focus of the novel, and then again by making us think that nothing could be worse than that. We learn as the book progresses that slaves faced insurmountable obstacles, pain, fear, and humiliation, and that for many the choice to eaten by a shark was one they could only dream of. In his novel he weaves a narrative of many, one with diverse perspectives and experiences that as a finished product reveal the slave ship in its truth. Rediker shows us that the trauma millions faced on the voyage from Africa to the Americas was in service of something of indescribable magnitude.

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A He was tossed and forced onto a foreign boat that was controlled by people, he never seen before. The white people he never seen before would whip him, if he did not eat. All Olaudah saw was all the slaves having fetters around their hands and sometimes around their feet. The slave traders and the ship’s crew were terrifying to him. Equiano thought the slave traders were going to eat them.

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Douglass encountered multiple harsh realities of being enslaved. For example, the ex-slave was practically starved to death by his masters on multiple occasions. In fact, “[He was] allowed less than a half of a bushel of corn-meal per week, and very little else... It was not enough for [him] to subsist upon... A great many times [he had] been nearly perishing with hunger” (pg 31).

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Slave Ship Luis D. Nieves Introduction to Humanities Western Governors University Analysis if “The Slave Ship” painting by J.M.W. Turner A1: Initial Thoughts This painting caught my attention starting with the tittle and tone of the piece. Bright colors reflect what seems like dawn coming down on the ship a deep sense of chaos as my eyes turn to the bodies drowning on the rough sea. Tons of questions come to mind, was the storm responsible for the struggling lives at sea or where they throw by others on purpose?

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During what was considered one of the worst parts of American history, African Americans were enslaved and forced against their will to serve the needs of their masters. This horrid period had an incredible impact on the enslaved African Americas. Considering this, however, were slaves the only people impacted by the dreadful act of slavery? Ultimately, slavery had created an impact on the slaves, and the people who owned them. By forcing slaves to live a life full of discrimination and constant fear, their perspectives had changed caused by living with the burden of slavery.

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The first author that I chose to analyze is Olaudah Equiano. He wrote narratives about his experiences on the slave ship as well his experiences as a slave. He writes in first person narratives to describe his terrible memories as a slave. In his narrative, he states, “The stench of the hold, while we were on the coast, was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time.” This sentence is describing the harsh conditions on the boat from Africa to America.

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1656 Words | 7 Pages

Cramped at the bottom level of the ship with overcrowding, bad food and water, and seldom allowed on deck created an environment for disease, death, and hopelessness. The slaves were beaten, even if they did nothing wrong, as an example of what could happen if they were to

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540 Words | 3 Pages

I. Introduction: In America, slavery already being a common event on 60s. People who have plantation there usually had many slaves to be commanded. However, slavery made black people in America feel treated and tortured. Black people always used to be a slave and always being under the white people.

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I strongly believe that this part of history has been apologetically horrifying for both the victims of slave trade and its perpetrators. It has been the struggle of years which led the Europeans to stand on their feet firmly, from Thomas Hobbes identifying a new political structure to the study of Greek languages. However, the efforts went in vain due to the embarking of Africans to white lands where they were tagged and branded on the chest with labels of their masters to whom they belonged/served. It is evident, in the passage, the way writer describes the anguish and torture as: “When the women and girls are taken on board a ship, naked, trembling, terrified, perhaps almost exhausted with cold, fatigue and hunger, they are often exposed to the wanton rudeness of white savages.” This history shows the origins of racism that we see in today’s world and where it stems from.

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