Equiano's Borderlands

The subject of slavery in the early 1700s had the potential to elicit an array of opinions depending upon the race, gender, and political role of the individual in question. Like the majority of white land-holding men who owned slaves, William Byrd viewed the treatment of Africans as that consistent with livestock: slaves were to do the work they were assigned and give in to every whim of their masters for fear of being severely punished. Olaudah Equiano provides a contrast in opinion to this widely accepted viewpoint. By humanizing Africans and detailing the intimate emotions experienced by them, Equiano implicitly argues against the attitudes of typical slave owners.

“Race as Civic Felony” by Loic Wacquant: In this reading, the US conception of “race” is a direct outcome of the unique status of the United States as a slave holding republic (page 127). While slavery itself has long been abolished, its dynamics were replicated in Jim Crow segregation and later in the urban ghetto. In page 127, The Jim Crow regime reworked the racial boundary between slaves and free into some segregated societies. Despite the he abolition of “statues segregation”, it seems that new ways have been thought to hold minorities from the mainstream society. Another ‘peculiar institution’, born of the adjoining of the hyperghetto with the cerebral system, is reorganizing the social meaning and significance of ‘race’ in agreement with the dictates of the deregulated economy and the post-Keynesian state. In page 128, white people fear and mistrust people of color. They think of black people’s

Although Olaudah Equiano was not directly involved in American slavery, several aspects of The Life of Olaudah Equiano can be used to understand why the institution lasted so long. A major part of the novel was dedicated to counter one of the major propagating ideas of slavery: the widespread myth that Africans were either not fully human or were of a less developed branch of humanity so enslaving them was moral. Equiano spends the first section of the book

Olaudah Equiano and Phillis Wheatley both describe their time in slavery and their experiences of injustice directed at them. Equiano goes into depth in his narrative about the institution of slavery and the experiences he encountered as a slave from being captured to buying his freedom. He characterizes the injustice done to the African people by applying the literary words often used on native people and applying it back to the Europeans. In doing this, he gives a better perspective to his readers about the experience he went through. He writes about how these White people are brutal to not only the Africans, but to each other as well. Though later in his narrative he writes about the white people who are kind to him, which is in contrast

Equiano was able to utilize his life experiences and expose the true story behind a slaves journey (from the capturing to the day the slave is placed with an owner), which allowed him to be an influential opponent against the enslavement of Africans. Equiano stated that, “[t]ourtures, murder, and every other imaginable barbarity and iniquity are practiced

If it were not for the stories past down from generation to generation or the documentations in historical books, the history of the twelve million African slaves that traveled the “Middle Passage” in miserable conditions would not exist. Olaudah Equiano contributes to this horrid history with The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. Through this narrative, the appalling personal experience of each slave is depicted. He accomplishes his rhetorical purpose of informing the world of the slave experience in this narrative. His use of unique style and rhetorical devices in this conveying narrative portray his imperative rhetorical purpose.

One of the most interesting arguments that modern apologists makes for the practice of race-based slavery in the Americas is the fact that slavery existed in Africa during that time period and that Africans were complicit in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. What is fascinating about Olaudah Equiano's discussion of the Middle Passage is that, as a man who had been enslaved in Africa prior to being shipped as a slave to the Americas, he was in a unique position to describe slavery in Africa with his introduction to European-influenced slavery in North America. His perception was that the immense brutality of the Middle Passage foreshadowed the dehumanization of slaves in the Americas, which was more inhumane than the treatment he had received as a slave while in Africa. Furthermore, he did not suggest that this brutality was linked to the race of the traders, though that seemed to have been his initial impression, but to the nature of the Trans-Atlantic trade. Therefore, Equiano's writings suggest that shipping Africans across the ocean for slavery was part of the dehumanizing process that helped fuel the practice of slavery in America.

Farming and building houses on plantations in extreme heat from the beating sun without water does not sound enticing to anyone with the modern technological amenities available in today's world. However, slaves all around the world were subjected to harsh treatment and grueling tasks like these throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. As a way of spreading accounts of these miserable lifestyles, slaves Frederick Douglass and Olaudah Equiano documented their horrifying experiences and published accounts of them. The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano highlight the cruelty towards slaves during the era of realism. Although these autobiographies contain many similarities

Olaudah Equiano’s “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavas Vassa, the African” was first published in 1789 in London, England (687). Equiano’s narrative is informative; however, it is critical of the treatment of slaves and persuasive in its appeals to end the brutal treatment of African Americans. His intended audience was his friends and the public. Regarding the purpose of his narrative, Equiano wrote in Chapter I, “If it affords any satisfaction to my numerous friends … or in the smallest degree promotes the interests of humanity, the ends for which it was undertaken will be fully attained” (688). His narrative also offered a first-hand (first-person narrative) account of slavery and shared the story of his journey towards freedom. Equiano’s narrative is in chronological order after a brief introduction in Chapter I, which explained his purpose for writing his story along with providing background information on his childhood and the culture of his birthplace in Essaka, Africa. Furthermore, although much of Equiano’s story centered on his extensive sea travel, his harmonious mixture of formal and informal word choices along with the lack of the technical terminology commonly associated with sailors helps the general audience

The Life of Olaudah Equiano focuses on the various scenes to which Equiano or otherwise known as Gustavus Vassa was a witness too. Equiano’s story allows for an in depth perspective of slave trade and the way it functioned. Equiano takes the reader upon his journey as an African Slave beginning with his experiences in his native village, his numerous amounts of masters, cruelties and oppressions across the globe, and all the way to his success as a freeman. Equiano strongly focuses on the fact that almost every event in his life made an impression on his mind and influenced his conduct. Hence, making sense of the importance of his status and growth despite of his roots. Equiano always remained aware of his race and culture however he was in search of a freedom that no matter whom he was told to be his identity of obtaining this as well as soon gaining control of his own life always remained the same.

Today racial inequality is ongoing whether you are aware of it or not. We have come a long way from segregated seats to public transportation. The issue of race and race relations has really scarred the history of this nation and has been a constant reminder of the horrors people endured as a result of race relations in this country. The ideas from both of the readings explain how black Americans faced hatred and violence because they were viewed as less then. The writings also include how each leader is trying to change the world’s view of

The slave trade, yet horrific in it’s inhumanity, became an important aspect of the world’s economy during the eighteenth century. During a time when thousands of Africans were being traded for currency, Olaudah Equiano became one of countless children kidnapped and sold on the black market as a slave. Slavery existed centuries before the birth of Equiano (1745), but strengthened drastically due to an increasing demand for labor in the developing western hemisphere, especially in the Caribbean and Carolinas. Through illogical justification, slave trading became a powerful facet of commerce, regardless of its deliberate mistreatment of human beings by other human beings. Olaudah Equiano was able to overcome this intense

The stories of Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano are riveting tales of struggle and subjection to the dehumanizing trials of slavery. Accounts of slavery from the perspective of the captive bring to light the strife and everyday horrors that these people had to endure, sometimes throughout their entire lives. Both of the depictions give voice to the emotional peaks and troughs that the authors experienced during their ordeals. The events described took place almost one hundred years apart, and yet they are eerily similar in spirit. Although they bear a general resemblance, the narratives of Mary Rowlandson and Olaudah Equiano are dissimilar in the tone of their respective recounting, the descriptions of their captors and life before their

Both authors use history to explain the negative interactions between people of different ethnicities. Parrillo reveals why prejudice is frequent within minority groups and Fredrickson discusses the four different ways people of different ethnicities have associated with one another. Both Parrillo and Fredrickson discuss societal interactions and how whites are always the dominant group that remind the minorities of their superiority. Whites have denied African Americans equality and assimilation to white culture and deemed the Chinese as conniving competition for jobs. Throughout history, whites have never been on the receiving end of prejudice or anything less than dominant. Although both authors do not view whites in a negative light, both

The narrative by Olaudah Equiano gives an interesting perspective of slavery both within and outside of Africa in the eighteenth century. From these writings we can gain insight into the religion and customs of an African culture. We can also see how developed the system of trade was within Africa, and worldwide by this time. Finally, we hear an insider's view on being enslaved, how slaves were treated in Africa, and what the treatment of African slaves was like at the hands of the Europeans.