Olaudah Equiano (1745-97)

     Our anthology’s strategy—to give us brief glimpses into a range of time periods of his life.We can excuse this as effective because it does give us many of the incidents, but we have to complain because in too many cases it gives us so short of glimpse that either the power of the story he tells or the power of his rhetoric is diminished.
     Another emphasis of our text—the fact that Equiano was born into a slaveholding family. There is, however, some major differences—one being that the slaves held by his tribe were the spoils of war—kind of POW’s whose capture indicates that they work the fields for the Igbo community of which Equiano was a part. In a section of his intro, he talks about the disparity of the treatment of slaves—some of theirs were allowed to marry the sons and daughters of the tribe, were well-treated, released after a period of time, etc.
     We want to remember Equiano’s Igbo upbringing—late in the semester we return to Africa to read a novel by another person of Igbo ethnicity, Chinua Achebe.
     Equiano’s motivation. He wants to provide evidence to those with anti-abolitionist sentiments that the black race (the sable race, as he calls it) have full humanity, with potential Christianity. Historically, there have been some doubters as to Equiano’s full and truthful disclosure in his work. There is one scholar who claims to have uncovered a birth certificate, in South Carolina, of one Gustavas Vassa, which he claims is the real birth certificate of Equiano. Another book on him traces his origins to a particular Igbo tribe in Nigeria. Again, there are those detractors who claim that his conversion to Christianity is a sham, put on to impress readers. And, particularly during the time of its publications, there are many skeptics who cannot believe that a black man could write a document of this quality.

“The Slave Ship and its Cargo”
     One of the earliest written descriptions of the middle passage, this from the perspective of a young boy who had never set foot outside of his native village. We lose the sense of desperation at his capture, of the harrowing crossing of West Africa where a complicity with slavers is seen early and often (he feels he is in unthinkably foreign territory 5 miles from home—how much more so when he arrives at the coast, disembarks from the ship, etc. We also lose the fact that he is captured along with his sister, from whom he is soon separated.
     The introduction to the white race is to a race of unthinkable barbarity, which seems, at a glance, quite ironic.
“12 Years Old, Reaches England”
“Introduced to the Bible, re-sold into Slavery”
     One striking thing that Equiano does is to point out some of the similarities of the Christian faith to the beliefs and practices and even the stories of the Igbo.
It isw also the source of the story of being re-sold by Captain Pascal. This is one of the unfortunate excerpts that have less impact than it might, for we aren’t aware of the deep connection that OE feels for the captain, and the deep sense of betrayal he felt at this maneuvering to profit from the resale rather than, as ethics would have it, setting him free, his bond having more than been paid. When one knows the full story, the fact that he retains his love for Pascal is quite surprising (page 449-50)
“Employment in the West Indies”
     This chapter has satisfactory demonstrations of Equiano’s acute rhetorical sensibility. There is the passage about those who contest that holding slaves is a losing proposition (but who are the most vociferous anti-abolitionists). Then there is further demonstrations of the barbarity of the white slaver, in the rapes that are promulgated on the black women. The counter demonstration of the way a black man is treated who dared to consort with a white woman (a prostitute at that, and a willing consort).
“The Perils of Being a Freeman”
“Freedom”