Olaudah Equiano Abolitionist Leader

1. Olaudah EquianoAbolitionist Leader English 12 AH JL Ilsley HS

2. A young child in Africa… • OlaudahEquiano was born in West Africa in 1745. • He was kidnapped by another tribe in 1755. He was 11 years old. • Olaudah was next sold to white slave traders who put him on a ship for the Americas. This was the first time he saw the ocean. • The slave ship crossed the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in Barbados in the West Indies in 1756. • Equiano did not speak English. He did not know how to read or write. • He did not know where he was going or what was happening to him.

3. The Middle Passage “The first object [I saw] when I arrived on the coast [of West Africa], was the sea, and a slave ship…waiting for its cargo. These filled me with astonishment, … soon… terror… I wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me…I would have jumped over the side, but I could not…the shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, [made] the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable.” (chapter 2) Dilemma: Olaudah saw other slaves throw themselves overboard to escape the horrors aboard the slave ship. The Middle Passage was so horrible, Olaudah wanted to kill himself sometimes.

4. Travels as a slave • The slave ship arrived in Barbados. Olaudah had survived the Middle Passage. • No one bought Olaudah in Barbados. He went on another ship to an English Colony in Virginia. • A British Navy officer, Michael Henry Pascal, bought Olaudah and was his master for 7 years. He brought him to England. • When in England, Olaudah learned to read and write. Olaudah also learned to speak English. • Later, Olaudah traveled all around the world with Lt. Pascal. • Lt. Pascal promised to give Olaudah his freedom, but he never did. In 1763, Lt. Pascal sold Olaudah to a new master, Mr. King. King taught Olaudah business.

5. How did events from 1756-1763 influence Olaudah?. Important Events • He learned to read and write and speak in English • He traveled the world and saw many different people and places • He was promised freedom, but was not given it • He learned about trade and commerce What did Olaudah gain from his situation as a slave with Lt. Pascal? How might this have helped him eventually to become an abolitionist leader? What did he gain from his situation as a slave with Mr. King? How might this have helped him eventually to become an abolitionist leader? How do you think the unfulfilled promise of freedom motivated Olaudah?

6. Freedom • In 1766, Olaudah bought his freedom and worked in the trade business • He lived in England and became an abolitionist • He lectured against the cruelty of British slave owners • He spoke out against the English slave trade • He worked to resettle freed slaves in Sierre Leone • Olaudah published a narrative about his life in 1789 • His narrative was a great influence on the abolition of slavery in England and in the United States • OlaudahEquiano died in 1797 • In 1807, Great Britain abolished the slave trade

7. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African (1789) by Olaudah Equiano • Olaudah’s principal reason for writing his narrative was to evoke compassion for the miseries suffered by Africans in the slave trade • An English abolitionist said that Olaudah’s book was “more use to the Cause [Abolition] than half the people of the country”. • Olaudah said he hoped his book would “promote the interests of humanity”

8. Quotations • “Slavery violates that first natural right of mankind, equality and freedom, and gives one man a dominion over his fellows which God could never intend! For it raises the owner to a state as far above man as it depresses the slave below it; and, with all the presumption of human pride, sets a distinction between them, immeasurable in extend, and endless in duration!” • “When you make men slaves, you deprive them of half their virtue, you set them, in your own conduct, an example of fraud, rapine, and cruelty, and compel them to live with you in a state of war, and yet you complain that they are not honest or faithful!” • “As the inhuman traffic of slavery is to be taken into the consideration of the British legislature, I doubt not, if a system of commerce was established in Africa, the demand for manufactures would most rapidly augment…a commercial intercourse with Africa opens an inexhaustible source of wealth to the manufacturing interests of Great Britain, and to all which the slave trade is an objection…The abolition of slavery would be in reality a universal good.”

9. Olaudah Equiano • Olaudah was intelligent, quickly learned English, studied to read and write and learn about the laws and business of his enslavers • Olaudah converted to Christianity which may have influenced how he told his story and who became his friends and supporters • Olaudah’s autobiography was the first slave narrative and the first book published in English by an African • His narrative was very effective in behalf of abolitionism • Olaudah knew how to convince his readers that slavery was inhumane • Olaudah survived horrible situations and overcame them • Olaudah was willing to work hard for what he wanted

10. From your reading (Value 15) • 1. Cite and reflect on a quotation that expresses the difficulties experienced by Equiano. • 2. Cite and reflect on a quotation that expresses how Equiano’s literacy and/or intelligence helped him to survive and thrive. • Explain why Equiano was an ideal spokesman for the Abolitionist movement.

11. Works Cited • PBS resource guide, Africans in America http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1p276.html • University of Michigan http://wmich.edu/dialogues/texts/lifeofolaudahequiano.htm • Brycchan Carey’s website for Olaudah Equiano http://www.brycchancarey.com/equiano/index.htm • Equiano Foundation Online http://www.atomicage.com/equiano/index.html • University of North Carolina “Documenting the American South” http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/neh.html • Library of Congress “The African American Odyssey, Slaves and the Courts” http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sthtml • Selections of Olaudah Equiano’s narrative: http://wsu.edu/~dee/Equiano.html • The Mariner’s Museum, Captive Passage http://wsu.edu/~dee/Equiano.html • Understanding Slavery http://www.understandingslavery.com/citizen/explore/activism/gallery/?id=1376 • African American Odyssey, Anti-Slavery Movements and the Rise of the Sectional Controversy http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart3.html • The African American Mosaic http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/afam007.html • The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American Slavery http://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/online/wilberforce/index.html • History Matters http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6372/