Olaudah Equiano Essay

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Nefatia Montrose 2/17/12 US History 2 Black History Month Report Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano (also known as Gustavus Vassa) was born in what is now Nigeria in 1745. At the feeble age of Eleven he and his sister were kidnapped from his African village, Eboe, forced to march to the coast and put on board a slave ship. They were shipped “through the arduous Middle Passage of the Atlantic Ocean”, and sold to a British planter. He was eventually resold to Captain Pascal, a British naval officer, as a present for his cousins in London. After ten years of enslavement, assisting as a merchant, and working as a seaman, Equiano purchased his own freedom. At the age of 44, Equiano recalls his life in his own autobiography entitled The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. In this narrative, Equiano speaks of his life back in modern day Guinea where the native language was Ibo. Equiano tells us that he was the son of a chief and – even as a young child – ranked among his tribe’s most prominent (soon to be) warriors. Throughout the story, he accounts for his life up until 1789, which is when the book was published. Pascal, Equiano’s master, could be considered one of North America’s nicer slave owners. He sent Equiano to a school in London where he learned to read and write, which clearly played a significant part in the writing of his book. Pascal also introduced Euqiano to a naval way of life by taking him on battle ships with him while he was almost always used as a servant on these ships. During the Seven Years War with France, Equiano saw action in Canada and in the Mediterranean and, by now having fought for the British and having been baptised, Equiano felt that he was entitled both to his share of the prize money that was handed out to sailors on naval vessels, and to his freedom. This was not the case and
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