Segu Sparknotes

Within this review of Gomez’s work is a comparison of the “truth” I knew and the “truth” I now know. Upon completing Reversing Sail, I argued with my own thoughts regarding Africans and their status prior, and post, enslavement.

One implication as a result of the biggest known migration of human beings in history is that there is little documentation of individuals from the African Slave Trade. As such a familiar occurrence in history, there is little to be known about the individual experiences of captives during this horrific time. Randy Sparks, author of The Two Princes of Calabar, ends the silence as he provides the reader with a glimpse into an eighteenth century odyssey, and first hand account to the trading communities along the coast of West Africa. This trade not only transported people, but the exchange of ideas is also present across and around the Atlantic. The novel tells the story of two young men from Nigeria who are from an elite slave trading family. These men were captured by Europeans and sold into slavery until they were ultimately released back to their homeland. The Two Princes of Calabar offers insight into the complexities that existed in the transracial Atlantic world of the eighteenth century through the themes of privilege, gender bias, and the mistreatment of the enslaved.

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.

     Gung Ho, by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles was a wonderful book that discussed many important factors involved in making a company truly successful. It had a good storyline to help to tell the story of Gung Ho. When I first picked up the book to read it I really had no idea what to expect to learn from the book. The points that were made in this book were very simple and common sense principles. I say that these principles are simple, but many companies do not think of these little things when running a large business. They try to go “by the book” and get too caught up in sticking to their rules and regulations. Sometimes you just have to use a little common sense when running a business.

There are different experiences of the slave trade that are reflected in these documents such as those of an enslaved person (Olaudah Equiano), a European slave trader (Thomas Phillips – an English merchant), an African monarch (King Jao) whose kingdom and personal authority suffered from the slave trade, and an African monarch (Osei Bonsu) who opposed the ending of the slave trade. Of all the commercial ties that linked the early modern world into global network of exchange, none had more profound or enduring human consequences than the Atlantic Slave Trade. And in all these documents, we can see how people reacted differently to this system based on how they encountered it and how it affected them.

The author Maryse Conde has based the story of Segu on real life events and practices of the late 18th and early 19th century. The author has tried to bring out the tensions that existed in Africa at that time by using the four brothers of the Traore family,Tiekoro, Siga, Naba and Malobali as scapegoats. She talks about each of these characters in depth to show us their influences on the city. She shows how traditional religion and Islam impact each character in the story.

Olaudah Equiano had a very unique experience with the slave trade system. He began conveying his experience with how he was captured in his village by two men and a women, who kidnapped him and his sister. Their captors traveled with them for a few days before separating the siblings, and selling Equiano to his first master. He was treated fairly well, even when he ran away for a day and came back, he says his master “having slightly reprimanded me, ordered me to be taken care of, and not ill-treated.” (Equiano 27) Shortly after this engagement, Equiano’s master loses his wife and child and sends Equiano away to be sold again. He even gets to see his sister one last time before, again, they are separated.

Abina and the Important Men is the tale of an west African woman from Ashantee who was abducted twice and sold multiple times as a slave. The book is about her trial at court and her prosecution against Quamina Eddoo. Quamina Eddoo is a wealthy man that farms palm oil that owns young slaves. Slavery in the Gold Coast at the time was illegal due to British colonization and their abolition of slavery. Enforcing British rule against slavery was difficult in the Gold Coast. British rule clearly dictates that slavery is illegal, however, slavery was what kept the Gold Coast economy going and was apart of their tradition. At the time, palm oil was one of the staples of their economy, in which the British profited from significantly, and child slaves did the field work. If the British enforce their slavery laws against all the rich landowners who produce this oil, it would destroy the economy and relations with the powerful locals. Abina’s case was one of horrible circumstance, but provides a unique approach of historical significance.

In Yaa Gyasi’s Homegoing, discovering and exploring, the obvious and hidden, traumas and their subsequent effects on each generation is one of the most compelling parts of her highly acclaimed first novel. Set on Ghana’s Gold Coast in the 1700s, two sisters, who have never met, create generations of descendants who experience traumas continuously. Some generations experience the first hand the effects of slavery and the African slave trade, while others deal with the repercussions of belonging to a tribe of Africans that sold humans into slavery. Because the experience of trauma is continuous, the descendants of both sister, Esi and Effia, are never fully able to heal. Instead, the consequences of war, rape, kidnapping, violence and death are explored in the three hundred years since birth of the sisters. Past and current traumas shape the identities of each generation. Gysai’s narrative tells and retells the violent histories of both families in an attempt to help heal trauma that still remains imbedded in many Africans, and African Americas.

"Segu is a garden where cunning grows. Segu is built on treachery. Speak of Segu outside Segu, but do not speak of Segu in Segu" (Conde 3). These are the symbolic opening words to the novel Segu by Maryse Conde. The kingdom of Segu in the eighteenth and nineteenth century represents the rise and fall of many kingdoms in the pre-colonial Africa. Therefore, Segu indirectly represents the enduring struggles, triumphs, and defeats of people who are of African decent in numerous countries around the world. There are three major historical concepts that are the focus of this book. One is the spread of the Islamic religion. Another is the slave trade, and the last is the new

The most vital component to distinguish is the griot's concentrationon the past. Both on the grounds that it is his obligation and in light of the fact that it would likely rouse pride in his gathering of people of Mandingo (tenants of Mali), the griot names a few figures whose significance to the story itself is distracting, best case scenario. Be that as it may, as with other extraordinary sagas, one of the goals of the frame is to commend the human advancement it speaks to. Thus the recognition of these figures and the past they were a part of is critical for the Mandingo.

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.

In the novel Segu, Maryse Conde beautifully constructs personal and in depth images of African history through the use of four main characters that depict the struggles and importance of family in what is now present day Mali. These four characters and also brothers, by the names of Tiekoro, Siga, Naba, and Malobali are faced with a world changing around their beloved city of Bambara with new customs of the Islamic religion and the developing ideas of European commerce and slave trade. These new expansions in Africa become stepping stones for the Troare brothers to face head on and they have brought both victory and heartache for them and their family. These four

Olaudah Equiano begins the narrative by describing his home. He paints for his audience a charming, very fruitful picture of his province Essaka. It was a place where all the neighborhood children would come together and play whilst their parents were away laboring in the fields. He recalls being taught by his mother how to defend himself. They would practice shooting and throwing javelins-all the ways of their greatest warriors. It was to his utter dismay however; that he would never again be able to relive those moments, for he and his sister had been captured. He stated that an end was put to his happiness the day they were kidnapped. He goes on to speak of the days following the abduction, and how he and his sister tried to resist and break free but to no avail. The little comfort they found was in each other, but it was not long before they too were forced to separate. Olaudah’s narrative shines light on the resistance of many African captives while sharing his very own experience and the resentment he felt towards the hostile and desensitizing slave trade.

The book takes place in the Umuofia and Mbanta villages around the 1900s. During the 1900s the rise of European Imperialism in Africa becomes very much prevalent between 1881 and 1914.