(McKay, Chap 21, pg 570) In order to get a good perspective on what being a slave was like, we will look into a narrative written by Olaudah Equiano. Equiano was a native of Iboland who was captured at the age of eleven. He describes how some villagers would wait until the adults would go out in the plantations to work to abduct their younger children. Once Equiano was sold to the Europeans he says that they were treated horribly beaten and cramped on a very small boat. The reason that the slaves were treated badly could have been due to the fact that the Europeans had to pay a high price for them or just due to a lack of space.
1821- Every single day of this dreadful journey, I still contemplate what could’ve happened if I was not intrigued by the colossal ship and the beautiful merchandises. I still recall the events that led to my capture, countless European traders rushed down from the boat, enticing us to buy red handkerchiefs, dress goods, beads, bells, and trinkets in bright colours. Numerous black men and women rushed into the boats to receive some accessories. However, it was a massive hoax… they began forcing us below the deck and locked us up before the transportation to America. European men dragged me below the deck and began separating us into numerous groups.
Significance: Slavery brought Africans to America, challenged this country to look at all men as equals and made us leaders in the world for civil rights of mankind. Cause: The ability for ships to sail to America and the greed of slave ship captains made slavery in a new frontier, America, inevitable. Effect: The widespread supply and demand for slavery caused civil unrest within Africa and turned many groups against one another. Eventually these groups became part of the slave trade and provided slaves from their own tribes. Significance: This vicious cycle caused economic and political unrest, ultimately weakening Africa’s economic, political and social stability.
The voyage, in his personal view, was a journey of turmoil and hardships to get to American “shores,” and the ships that carried the slaves were a “festering hold” that harbored an entire people who were dying, ill, and “blacks [who were] rebellious.” “Some try to starve themselves… [some] leaped with crazy laughter to the waiting sharks.” The narrator’s depictions of the events taking place, like much of this story, are written in stream-of-consciousness, a major characteristic of modernism. He writes these thoughts in transition to give readers sensory imagery of the pain, depression, and anger experienced. Modernism also has elements of disorientation and discusses how “language is referential, representing the perceivable world.” (Bressler) In the beginning
These accounts, supported by memoirs such as Oladuah Equiano's, who survived the journey, informed the masses and catalyzed the destruction of slavery. The atrocities continued once the Africans arrived in the West Indies, but resistance began to grow once on the plantation. Great debate exists even today over just how and why the British Parliament voted to abolish the slave trade. By the late 1700's, the abolition movement had become strong enough to exert considerable pressure on Parliament, and an array of differing arguments were being made for abolition. Former slave Olaudah Equiano presented both a moral and an economic case for abolition, in the latter sounding a great deal like Adam Smith.
Benjamin Banneker Rhetorical Analysis In his sentimental, yet candid letter, Banneker reminds the reader of their past with the British Crown and his oppression in order to relate the reader to the struggles faced by a hopeless slave. In lines 1-25, Banneker makes strong use of past experiences faced by colonists in order to connect his reader to slavery. Banneker starts off with reminding the reader of when, “the British Crown exerted every powerful effort in order to reduce you to a state of servitude.” The use of this concrete detail leads the reader to remember a time when they suffered a form of slavery in order to help the reader understand the struggles faced by slaves. The reader is then brought to remember when, “every human aid appeared unavailable.” Although this may be a hyperbole, it is successful in emotionally attaching the reader to the hardships of slavery. The hyperbole doesn’t come off as over- dramatization, but rather shows the negative significance of slavery.
*The Ordeal of the Slave* -A state of perpetual terror: 1) first caught from her/ his tribe by the Europeans or another tribe. 2) All rounded up and put on the ships. 3) Having to survive on a ship. 4) Got to the destination with low attitude. -Slavery in the Chesapeake and South Carolina toon on two forms primarily: !
Even though the slave masters would know of this complication, it would even bother him. They would expect than their maximum input will result in a severe flogging of the whip. Some slaves aren’t so fortunate with whipped but according to the white masters, are only punishable by death. Douglass recalled a moment of his past of a little slave named Demby, who happen to be getting whipped due to his lack of work. He states “He had given Demby but a few stripes… to get rid of the scourging, he ran and plunged himself into the creek.. Mr. Gore gave him 3 calls, the first call was given, Demby made no response… The second and third call was given… then without no
It has its roots found in slavery however, where owned property (slaves) were forced to address their retainer by whatever title he appointed. This oppressive way of life of course led to mass rebellions and even militaristic unrest from every great military regime from China to Germany. When the Marine Corps got hold of it however, it was first used on ships for functionality. Seamen would typically resort to a simple “Aye, Aye” when the captain was shouting out commands, to avoid confusion as well as increase productivity in their mission....which was usually fighting another ship so in essence, they did this only to save their lives as it was necessary. Once again however, the new Marine Corps teaches us “Yes, No and Aye” sir, as our means of communication and that if we address a higher-up without saying his/her rank at least once per sentence, that we are being disrespectful.
He begins to become an abolitionist. Two sailors discover that Frederick is a slave and tell him to escape to the North. He does not listen because he feels they are trying to get a reward for returning an escaped slave. Douglass keeps practicing writing and eventually becomes very good at